Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 19) — Filipino families and businesses grew more confident about their prospects for the remaining months of 2019, a recent survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed.
Anticipation for the holiday cheer lifted both consumer and business sentiment, with both indices showing better figures compared to the third quarter.
Consumer confidence for the succeeding quarter logged at 15.8 percent, better than the 9.7 percent quarter-ahead figure recorded previously.
Optimism surged for October-December as they expect even more jobs, bigger incomes, and stable prices of goods.
As to the third quarter, which is about to end, more Filipinos also grew upbeat about prospects, with consumer confidence improving to a net score of 4.6 percent versus -1.3 percent in the second quarter.
That is the best consumer outlook logged since the fourth quarter of 2017, and is the first time since the second quarter of 2018 when optimists outweighed pessimists.
Meanwhile, local companies also see better days ahead, posting an improved fourth-quarter net confidence level of 56.1 percent from 47.6 percent previously. This is the highest score for this period seen in nearly three years.
Business optimism is coming from a usual third-quarter dip due to the rainy season, which sees a slack in demand for goods and a slowdown in business activities. Other issues were lack of raw materials, lower sales due to fewer orders, and stiffer competition.
But businesses had to contend with new issues this year, as they cited the “perceived unfavorable effects of various government policies” like the rice tariffication law, which removed import limits for the crop, as well as the planned EDSA ban for all provincial buses which was supposed to start in August until a local court struck it down.
Companies anticipate the Christmas season, which would trigger increased consumer demand, more orders, and bigger state spending on infrastructure.
