Egypt's consumer confidence index improved in December on the previous month, the latest data from Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) showed on Wednesday.

The index rose 1.6 per cent to reach 98 points last month, with the IDSC attributing the improvement to the recent appointment of Kamal El-Ganzouri – who commands the respect of much of the Egyptian public – as prime minister.

The economic-policy confidence index also increased by 4.8 per cent month-on-month in December to reach 75.8 points. One quarter of the Egyptians polled in December expressed the belief that new economic policies would lead to improvements in their financial conditions, whereas only 13.9 per cent of those polled November had expressed similar optimism.

Egypt’s family-income index, meanwhile, continued to drop in December, falling to 38.4 points down from 51.8 points two months earlier. Only 10.6 per cent of those polled in December said their income levels had improved over the previous year.

Expectations of improved living and economic conditions, however, both for individual families and Egyptian society as a whole, grew by 4.5 per cent on the month in December. Also, the percentage of Egyptians that believe more job opportunities would soon be available stood at 58.9 per cent in December, up from 53.9 per cent the month before.

Egyptians above 50 years old showed the highest levels of optimism, recording 101.6 points versus 94.7 for Egyptians aged between 18 and 30. Middle-aged groups, meanwhile, were the most pessimistic.

The indices adopt methodology devised by the University of Michigan to measure consumer optimism or pessimism and the public’s expectations regarding future economic performance.