Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email I don’t think the answers are a surprise for us. While we may rant about rights and justice and what-nots, its the basic stuff that ends up as priority. Of course having a good platform/environment would simulate the economy, thus improve the livelihood. But that’s another story for another day.
Its hard to paint a rosy picture for 2010. While indicators like increase in car sales may be put forth, the general feeling is that there’s less people in shopping centers and sales is not much. Government doesn’t have much money, and budget has been cut. Increase in crime is indication of economic problem. People are encouraged to spend, spend, spend. But how about saving?
The survey covered just 500 people from Malaysia, so I wonder if a bigger sample would yield a contrasting result or merely reinforce the current one.
Cost of living, salary changes and personal debt are the top three financial worries for Malaysians, a survey by global payment firm Visa found.
In the survey conducted between Aug 21 and Sept 23 last year, 69% of Malaysians said they were extremely concerned about the cost of living expenses while 62% and 59% were worried about salary changes and personal debt respectively. “Malaysians were less worried about the value of their retirement fund and portfolio, and fluctuating interest rates,” the company said in a statement here yesterday.
However, 25% of those surveyed also said they were more confident about their personal financial situation compared to six months earlier although 52% felt there would be no change.
Only 23% indicated they were less confident than earlier.
Sixty-six per cent of Malaysians also said they were more concerned about the impact of the global financial crisis on the local economy.
The survey involved 5,520 respondents aged between 18 and 65 years, of whom 500 were from Malaysia.
The rest were from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.
Visa country manager Stuart Tomlinson said Malaysians were being practical during the current economic climate by focusing on managing their concerns, providing themselves with a level of security and peace of mind.
“For Malaysians, potential changes in salary levels are also of concern,” he said, adding that across the region, consumers were looking to see how they could manage their expenses, savings and job security, rather than macro-economic conditions such as exchange and interest rates.
