The Institute for Health Policy (IHP) released today the March 2024 update of its Consumer Confidence Indices, which are generated from its Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS).

All three of IHP’s Consumer Confidence indices improved to a new all-time peak in March. The Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS), the broadest measure of the public’s view of their personal economic status and the national economy gained 9 points to 31 points. The Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE), which tracks future perceptions increased 9 points to 37 points. The Index of Current Conditions (ICC), a measure of perceptions of current conditions, also increased 9 points to 22 points.

Indices have been improving since the start of this year, so the general trend has been up. However, the late March data suggest a fall, but this will need to be confirmed in the April data before drawing conclusions. 

All IHP SLOTS consumer confidence indices range from zero to a potential maximum of 100, with levels below 50 indicating net pessimism.

The CCI estimates are based on 15,924 interviews conducted between Oct. 21, 2021–Apr. 7, 2024, including 528 interviews conducted in March 2024, with sample sizes varying between indices depending on response rates. All estimates are adjusted to be representative of the national population, including gender, age, ethnicity, and income level.

The SLOTS platform tracks public opinion and wellbeing daily using a large national panel recruited by face-to-face interviews and other randomly dialled respondents, with numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications that use the data. Inquiries to commission the platform to track specific issues are welcome and should be directed to info `at’ ihp.lk.

About IHP

IHP is an independent, non-partisan research centre based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The SLOTS lead investigator is Dr Ravi Rannan-Eliya of IHP, who has trained in public opinion polling at Harvard University and has conducted numerous surveys over three decades. 

Methodology

SLOTS combines data from a national sample of adults (ages 18 and over) reached by random digit dialling of mobile numbers, and others coming from a national panel of respondents who were previously recruited through random selection. All consumer confidence index estimates are weighted to be representative of the national population, including characteristics such as age, gender, province, sector, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and education.

Funding

The SLOTS survey has previously been funded by the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka, and others. Current field work is financed by the IHP Public Interest Research Fund and others. The sponsors play no role in the study design, analysis, or interpretation of findings. Furthermore, the survey findings do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of past and present funders. Interested parties can contact IHP for more detailed data and results.