By Sia Ling Xin

SALES executive Aaron Koh, 34, originally planned to spend this Christmas in neighbouring Indonesia but, two months ago, he decided to splurge on a 10-day Europe trip.

He initially thought that he might not be getting a substantial year-end bonus but, when the economy started picking up, he decided to 'give myself a treat''.

'Even though the amount of the year-end bonus has not been confirmed, I felt that it was all right for me to spend on this Europe holiday, as the economy is recovering,'' he said.

Like Mr Koh, more among the 500 Singaporeans polled last month by research firm The Nielsen Company are more prepared to spend now than four months ago, on items such as holidays and new technology.

Singapore's consumer-confidence index rose by nine points from June this year to hit 96 last month, making Singapore the 13th-most-optimistic country among the 54 polled in the survey.

Consumer confidence is picking up worldwide, as massive economic stimulus packages introduced by governments have started to take effect, Nielsen said.

However, spending in Singapore is likely to still be restrained, because two in three still plan to put their spare cash into savings, about the same number as in June.

Mr Paul Richmond, managing director of The Nielsen Company Singapore and Malaysia's consumer group, said: 'In June, we saw that consumers in Singapore were beginning to feel that the economy was on the way to recovery.

'An extension of this optimism has registered in third-quarter findings, which reflect a gradual improvement in consumer outlook.'

Singaporeans' perceptions of other matters have brightened as well.

More than half of the Singaporeans polled last month described local job prospects as good or excellent, an 18 percentage- point leap from the number in June.

On personal-finance matters, half of them now feel positive, up by 7 percentage points from the 46 per cent who felt that way in June.

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