Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – If there is anything that Indonesians all agree on right now, it is the need to put off unnecessary expenditures, two newly released consumer confidence surveys reveal.

An ACNielsen survey for the Danareksa Research Institute on consumer confidence levels in January shows that Indonesians are delaying forking out on non-essential items due to worries over the country's economic situation and job prospects.

The bleak mood has clearly affected people at all levels – from prominent industrialists to blue-collar workers.

"This year will be a tough one. The employment situation is not good and I'm going to postpone spending on things I don't really need, just in case the situation gets worse," 28-year-old Bambang A. Wibawa, a sales executive working for an auto parts manufacturer, told The Jakarta Post.

Having to provide for a wife and child on monthly commissions, he says he would rather save what he can and avoid unnecessary outlay.

In an online survey conducted by ACNielsen last November, the results of which were only released Wednesday, 74 percent of the respondents opted for a similar strategy for coping with the economic situation.

Although Nielsen's consumer confidence index for November improved slightly compared to a similar survey in May, half of the 500 respondents said they would rather save their money than face possible financial hardship later.

"People are now adopting a wait-and-see attitude as regards spending their money," Nielsen's Southeast Asia managing director, Farquhar Stirling, said Wednesday.

The November survey also revealed that the country's economic difficulties and job security topped the list of major concerns for Indonesians.

Meanwhile, Nielsen's January survey for the Danareksa Research Institute, which involved more than 1,700 respondents, paints a more up-to-date picture of consumer confidence, especially in the wake of last year's fuel price hikes.

It reveals that consumers are now cautiously optimistic about the economy, although the index has yet to fully recover to the level prevailing before the fuel price hikes.

"There is also, however, widespread recognition among consumers that the economy is slowing down and unemployment rising," the survey report said.

A proposed hike in electricity prices has further added to consumer concerns, encouraging them to hold on to their money. This, in turn, implies that growth in spending on durable goods could well remain low for the first half of the year.

Currently, spending by upper-income-bracket consumers still dominates overall consumer spending, while those in the lower income brackets are finding it difficult to cope with higher inflation.

Given that consumer spending accounts for 65 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product, the surveys convey a clear message to the government: it needs to shift from relying on consumer spending for economic growth to more domestic production.