Johannesburg — CONSUMER confidence accelerated to two and a half year highs in the first few months of this year, buoyed by stable interest rates, higher economic growth rates and positive prospects regarding the outlook for the economy as a whole.

The MasterIndex consumer confidence survey, released yesterday, shows that SA scored 91,9 out of a possible 100.

This is up more than 25% from six months ago and places SA second, behind Kuwait, among seven countries surveyed.

For the first time since it began participating in the survey in 2004, SA's level of consumer confidence is now one of the highest among the countries surveyed in the South Asia, Middle East and Africa region.

"Perhaps SA's golden era has turned into the platinum era. Two years of GDP (gross domestic product) growth of more than 4%, a third consecutive year very likely this year, plus talk of 6% growth, must make for a big change in attitude of ordinary South Africans," T-Sec economist Mike Schussler said yesterday. "The longer the upswing in the economy, the more confident consumers become," he said.

The scores in the survey relate to five variables: employment, economy, regular income, stock market and quality of life. SA saw a significant increase in all the categories, with the highest score coming from the regular income category, at 98,0, from 91,4 in the previous survey.

"All the MasterIndex categories have reached record highs. Consumer confidence is therefore not confined to one or two areas, but is a broad rise, with South Africans even saying that the 'quality of life' has improved to nearly 90 points out of a possible 100," Schussler said. The index registered 89,8 (67,6).

"Lower inflation and stable interest rates have kept consumers upbeat," Schussler said.

The employment category showed an 8,7 index points rise to 85,3.

"Although unemployment rem-ains high, more and more people are finding work. This is not surprising, with the economy creating at least 357000 formal sector jobs last year," Schussler added.

In the economy category, SA scored 91,7 (69,1), while a score of 90,9 (70,9) was registered for the stock market.