Consumer finance survey results out in 2010

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is set to release the result of a survey that would help understand the financial behavior of Filipinos and at the same time assist monetary authorities in laying down new policies within the year.

BSP director for the Department of Economics Statistics Rosabel Guerrero said in an interview with reporters that the Philippines is the first country in Asia that has conducted a “Consumer Finance Survey” that is similar to a survey conducted in the US once every three years.

Guerrero said in an interview with reporters that the survey would also help the central bank promote financial literacy in the country.

“One of the objectives of the survey is to determine the savings and investments patter of respondents,” she explained. 

The survey that covered around 10,000 respondents all over the country focused on the assets and liabilities of Filipino consumers as well as their consumption and investment habits.

According to her, the results of the Consumer Finance Survey would likely be released either in the third or fourth quarter of 2010.

“We (BSP) have done the actual survey last year, and we are now in the stage of validating results of the survey. This survey is more tedious and data-intensive than the others being conducted by the BSP. This is the reason we cannot conduct this survey as often as annually or quarterly,” she added. 

Filipinos save and invest less compared with their counterparts in the Asia Pacific region and are known as heavy consumers, enabling the country escape a recession last year mainly due to private consumption.

Some Filipino families are dependent on the money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

The BSP has already raised its growth forecast of OFW remittances to eight percent instead of six percent this year due to the continued demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad.

Originally, the BSP saw OFW remittances growing by six percent this year.

Latest data released by the central bank showed that the amount of money sent home by overseas Filipinos already went up by 7.7 percent to $2.785 billion in the first two months of the year from $2.585 billion in the same period last year due to continued strong demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers combined with favorable global employment opportunities.

Remittances from sea-based workers went up by 13.4 percent while that of land-based workers increased by 6.4 percent during the two-month period. Major sources of remittances in January and February were the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Italy.

Last year, remittances went up by 5.4 percent to a new record level of $17.348 billion last year from $16.426 billion and exceeded the revised four percent growth forecast set by the central bank.

The BSP is taking the lead in the government’s promotion of financial education among Filipino households, conducting seminars on financial management, savings, and investments among students as well as OFWs and their families.