KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian consumers continue to save for a rainy day despite renewed optimism, says a MasterCard Survey.
The survey reavealed that economic uncertainty had caused 85 per cent of Malaysian consumers to either maintain or increase their level of savings, in preparation for unforeseen emergency expenditures.
Among the different age groups, those in the 18-29 age bracket (90 per cent) are most concerned about saving for a rainy day.
On a broader scale, the majority of Malaysian consumers (32 per cent) plan to save between 1-10 per cent of their income over the next six months.
The three main categories of savings are, retirement (59 per cent), investments (38 per cent) and buying or upgrading property (29 per cent).
The survey was conducted from Oct 1 to Nov 9 last year and involved 10,623 consumers from across the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
Three new African markets were added to the survey Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria bringing the total number to 24.
According to the survey, while consumers across the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa are feeling more optimistic about the six months ahead, many are not letting up in terms of stocking up their coffers.
Economic advisor, Asia/Pacific, MasterCard Worldwide, Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, said: "While we see that consumers across this region have turned cautiously optimistic about the economy, they remain nevertheless concerned with its near term economic outlook.
"This is understandable given the recent market volatility and its associated uncertainty.
"Hence, precautionary savings are staying relatively high in the region, which in turn implies that some downward pressure on future consumption will likely persist".
Bernama
The Star Online
