Consumer confidence in Saudi Arabia is buoyant and optimism about future economic trends in the kingdom is high, according to a survey published in the August edition of Gulf Marketing Review, the sister publication of MEED.

The survey, carried out by leading Cyprus-based market research consultancy MEMRB, found that over 80 per cent of a sample of more than 1,200 Saudi Arabians said they considered themselves to be at least as well off as they were a year ago, and a quarter said they were better off.

More than half said they were financially better off than five years ago. The survey found that consumer confidence had risen since 1993. Two thirds of the sample said they were better off than their parents.

About 75 per cent of the sample said they were optimistic about the Saudi Arabian economy. On the basis of this figure, MEMRB says that Saudi Arabian consumers appeared to be the most optimistic in the world.