Many countries are still gloomy about their economic futures as we head into 2015, but India is brimming with economic optimism.
Ipsos, the global research firm, surveyed over 18,000 adults in 22 countries last month on their assessments of how well the economy is doing in their country. Ipsos asked for both national and local economic assessments, as well as future economic outlooks for each country surveyed.
Over 70 percent of Indians surveyed believe their local economy will be stronger six months from now, compared with the global average of just 24 percent. Brazil was in second place with 57 percent of Brazilians agreeing that economic growth will lead to a stronger economy six months from now.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia also were on the optimistic side, both over 50 percent, and China, Mexico and Argentina all were above the global average of 24 percent.
France led the glass-half-empty crowd with only 4 percent believing their local economy will be stronger by July. Other countries with gloomy local economy outlooks below 10 percent are, in ascending order, Belgium, Italy, Hungary and South Korea. Other countries below the global average are Japan and Germany.
National and local economy assessments weren’t much better. Globally, only 39 percent of the people studied say their national economy is good and even fewer, 28 percent, say their local area economy is good.
Saudi Arabia was tops in both national and local assessments, with 84 percent of Saudis feeling good about the national economy and 61 percent about the local economy.
Optimistic India was just behind Saudi Arabia in feeling that the country’s national economy was good, with 81 percent in agreement. Germany, Sweden and China all were over 70 percent. Italy was at the bottom with only 7 percent of Italians believing their national economy was good. Other countries below the global average of 39 percent were, in ascending order, France, Spain, South Korea, Hungary and Romania.
In a sign that Europe is getting serious about its economic malaise, the European Central Bank yesterday launched a €60billion-a-month bond-buying program, which was far larger than investors had expected.
