MANILA, Sept. 10 (PNA) — Good harvest, more jobs, better pay and government assistance such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) made consumers more positive on their outlook for the third quarter of 2015.
Results of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Consumer Confidence Expectations Survey (CES) for the third quarter this year showed an improvement in the index to -11.6 percent from quarter-ago’s -16.2 percent.
Consumer’s confidence index has always been in the negative territory, thus, monetary officials said any improvement is a good sign.
Similarly, the index for the next quarter jumped to 5.8 percent from the -0.4 percent in the survey done in the previous quarter.
“Expectations of additional family income, increasing employment opportunities, and brisker businesses at the back of more investment opportunities triggered by the stronger confidence gained from the country’s higher credit rating, lesser debt payments and more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the family fueled the strong consumer sentiment for the next quarter,” the central bank said.
The index for the next 12 months is almost steady at 15.8 percent against the previous quarter’s level.
The respondents said they expect further expansion of the country’s economy as well as their family’s financial condition in the next quarter with the latter’s index rising up to record-high of 8.4 percent.
In terms of their outlook on inflation, the respondents project it to go up and average at 4.2 percent this year from 3.7 percent in the previous quarter’s survey.
The peso is projected to weaken further against the greenback in the next 12 months.
Interest rate as well as unemployment rate during the same period are forecast to also go up.
The survey, done from July 1-15, 2015, was participated in by about 5,894 household-respondents, which were picked from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Master Sample List of Households. (PNA)