20100914
reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's consumer confidence ticked up in the third quarter with consumers upbeat about the country's prospects following the enactment of a new constitution, a survey showed on Tuesday.

TNS Research International's survey showed its consumer confidence index rose 21 points to 136 in August, from 115 in June and 120 in March 2010.

"Despite continued pessimism about their current situation, in terms of economic conditions and business performance, the proportion feeling that things will get better in the future has significantly gone up," TNS said in a statement.

"We can assume that this has been because of the positive outcome of the referendum, which was holding back confidence previously," it said.

TNS launched the consumer confidence index in October 2009. For the August survey, it surveyed 1,504 adults. Twenty percent lived in urban areas and 80 percent in rural areas.

Kenyans endorsed a new constitution in a referendum last month, which they hope will improve governance and reverse decades of inequalities for the 38.6 million population of east Africa's largest economy.

Eighty-seven percent of those surveyed believed jobs were hard to come by at the moment, lower than the 92 percent in June. Only 37 percent expected the situation to be any easier in six months, though that was higher than 27 percent three months ago.

The majority of respondents, 82 percent, felt that their income was not keeping up with inflation and another 42 percent expected prices to rise in the next six months.

Kenya's consumer price index has fallen significantly this year thanks to good weather which boosted food production, a major component in calculating inflation.