The National Statistics Institute said that in July 2011, the total consumer confidence indicator in Bulgaria increased by 1.3 percentage points because of an increase by 1.9 percentage points of confidence among city dwellers. But the value of the indicator for rural inhabitants dropped 0.5 percentage points.

The latest survey showed a lessening of pessimism among consumers about the general economic situation in the past 12 months. Consumers' opinions about the change in consumer prices over the past 12 months were more favorable than three months earlier.

Consumers also were relatively less worried about inflation than they were three months ago. There was a decrease in pessimism about unemployment, with expectations shifting to more moderate assessments from increase sharply to increase slightly or remain the same, as the balance indicator declined by 6.5 percentage points.

The NSI said that but consumers' expectations about the development of the general economic situation in the country over the next 12 months as a whole were more unfavorable than they were three months ago.

Although the rural population in July improves its assessment of the household budget situation by one percentage point, this could not compensate for a deterioration of the indicator of 10.2 percentage points registered in the previous survey in April 2011.

As regards urban households' finances, the deterioration is gradual and smooth, as the NSI put it, on average by 1.4 percentage points a quarter since October 2010.

The NSI said that a slight improvement in some indicators, such as assessment of the current economic situation in the country in the context of favorable and unfavorable for savings or intent to buy durable goods over the next 12 months was due entirely to the urban population.

(Sourced from www.sofiaecho.com)