Nielsen, launching its 2012 Outlook this weekend, remarked upon the aggressively growing consumers who are moving towards lifestyle products that have now become essentials and engaging in impulse buying, reported Xinhua.
The company’s managing director in Sri Lanka Shaheen Cader told a gathering at the report launch that companies should work to leverage the growth momentum.
“Sri Lanka is slightly different from the rest of the world in that we see more growth in 2012. There is an emergence of a savvy rural consumer that companies need to consider,” he said.
Other key points found by Nielsen include the large-scale buying of vehicles with over 50% of households owning at least one vehicle in Sri Lanka. However, Nielsen warned that consumers were moving more towards borrowing for their spending and saving levels are remaining static at 8%.
Inflation effects resulting in higher food prices remain the main concern moving forward into 2012 even though Sri Lanka has managed to maintain a rate of 7% on average this year.
Last month, Sri Lanka depreciated the rupee by 3% against a basket of currencies in a move to boost exports, as it released a 2012 budget.Sri Lanka’s central bank has said the rupee has been steadily appreciating against other currencies since the end of the island’s decades-long Tamil separatist war in May 2009.
Economic woes in Europe and the United States have also led to a downturn in demand for Sri Lanka’s exports, government officials said.Official sources said it was the first time in more than a decade that the government has carried out a “single stroke” depreciation of the rupee.
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