Consumer Confidence in Israel

Israel's Consumer Confidence is a sentiment index measuring households' perceptions of the general economic situation and of their own finances, both current and expected. It is a leading indicator of private consumption.

It is compiled from a regular survey of a representative sample of households, with questions on the country's economy, family finances, employment and buying intentions. The index summarises the balance between optimistic and pessimistic replies.

The higher the confidence, the more likely Israeli households are to raise their spending. As consumption is the largest component of GDP, it works as an early signal of the economy's direction and of demand pressures.

As a survey, it is subject to sampling error and to the limits of any sentiment measure; stated confidence does not always translate into actual spending. It can be distorted by one-off shocks, such as bouts of geopolitical tension.