Business confidence plunges in Q1

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Businesses' outlook on the economy fell in the first quarter of 2013 due to a slowdown in business activities after the Yuletide season, adverse effects of devastating typhoon Bopha late last year and strong market competition, the Philippine central bank said today.

According to the Philippine central bank, the overall confidence index (CI) of businesses on the Philippine economy, which based on the quarterly survey by the bank, decreased to 41.5 percent for the first quarter of this year from 49.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The confidence index is computed as the percentage of firms that answered in the affirmative is less than the percentage of firms that answered in the negative with respect to their views on a given indicator.

"This is a typical downturn in business outlook during the first quarter of the year," the central bank said.

The sentiment of businesses in the Philippines mirrored the less sanguine business outlook in the United Kingdom, France, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR, and was in contrast to the more buoyant views of those in South Korea, India and Germany, it added.

But for the second quarter of this year, the central bank said that the business outlook turned more optimistic, with the CI rising to 56.4 percent.