DESPITE a plunge in consumer confidence across the Asia-Pacific, Singapore remains much more optimistic than its counterparts, according to the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence.

The twice-yearly study looks at perceptions about employment, the economy, regular income, the stock market and quality of life to establish sentiment for the next six months.

Singapore scored 87.3 points for the second half of this year, easily outstripping the overall Asia-Pacific confidence level of 56 points and the 83.3 points Singapore registered in the same period last year. The Republic was closely followed in the latest survey by Vietnam (86.2), Hong Kong (83.1), China (82.7) and Taiwan (71.3). In Singapore, consumer sentiment on employment (98.1), the economy (93.4) and regular income (85.9) were exceptionally high. Quality of life ranked lowest at 79.

Factors such as increasing inflation, slower economic growth, the global credit crunch and shaky financial markets have contributed to overall confidence across the Asia-Pacific dropping from 69.3 six months ago to the current level of 56.

'Accommodating monetary policy in Singapore has clearly been helpful to consumers, which allows Singapore to buck the regional trend of declining consumer confidence,' said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic adviser to MasterCard Worldwide.

In April, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) raised the policy band for the trade-weighted Singapore dollar to counter inflation.

The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence polled about 5,400 respondents in 13 countries. Aside from China, which accounted for 600 respondents, 400 or more participants from each of the 12 other markets contributed to the study, which took place from May 2 to 26.

This article was first published in The Business Times on June 27, 2008.