MANILA – The seasonal uptick in demand during the Christmas season boosted investors’ confidence, resulting in a jump in the overall business confidence, contrary to the situation among consumers.
Results of the Business Expectation Survey (BES) for the fourth quarter this year, released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday, showed that confidence index (CI) among businesses rose to 29.7 percent from 23.2 percent in the third quarter.
“Besides holiday spending, firms also cited higher firm productivity and operational efficiency, rollout of new products and services, and a favorable inflation environment as positive drivers of business sentiment in the current quarter,” it said.
The CI for the next quarter and the next 12 months remains positive at 23.7 percent and 40.4 percent, respectively, but lower than quarter-ago’s 49.5 percent and 48.1 percent, “reflecting continued optimism over the economy’s near-term prospects.”
“For the fifth consecutive quarter, firms expect inflation over the next 12 months to remain within the National Government’s target range, indicating well-anchored business inflation expectations. Within-target inflation supports investments and job creation,” BSP said.
In terms of the Consumer Expectations Survey (CES), the CI is lower in the fourth quarter at -22.2 percent from -9.8 percent in the previous quarter “due to graft and corruption concerns, higher inflation, lower household income, and unfavorable weather conditions and other natural calamities.”
The BSP said the CI for both the next quarter and the next 12 months is still positive at 3.6 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively, “reflecting a favorable outlook in the near term.”
“Consumers also expect inflation over the next 12 months to stay within the National Government’s target range, indicating well-anchored household inflation expectations. Within-target inflation supports investments and job creation,” it added.
Inflation as of November averaged at 1.6 percent, lower than the central bank’s 2-4 percent target band. (PNA)