Filipino consumers 'more upbeat' for Q2 — poll

MANILA, Philippines — Amid rising commodity prices, Filipino consumers were more optimistic for the second quarter of the year driven by their expectations of improved peace and order situation and higher income, among others, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Friday.

Results of the BSP’s latest Consumer Expectations Survey of 5,517 households from April 2 to 14 showed the overall confidence index, or CI, increased to 3.8 percent from 1.7 percent posted in the first quarter.

That means optimists increased and continued to outnumber pessimists, the central bank explained.

According to the BSP, prospects of better peace and order situation, additional income, availability of more jobs, effective government policies and increase in family savings helped cheer respondents.

For the next three months and the year ahead, consumers’ positive outlook “remained generally steady,” the BSP added, as the CIs showed a fractional decline from previous quarter’s survey at 8.7 percent from 8.8 percent and at 23.1 percent from 24 percent, respectively.

“The relatively steady outlook for the next quarter and the year ahead stemmed from the counterbalancing of the number of respondents that reported more positive views on the economy, in anticipation of more jobs and additional income, versus those with negative views due to expectations of higher prices of goods,” the central bank said.

The Philippine economy grew 6.8 percent in the first quarter, faster than the 6.5 percent in the preceding three months and the 6.4 percent recorded in the comparable period last year.

The latest growth pace matched market estimates, but settled near the low-end of the government’s 7-8 percent target range for 2018.

Household spending was up 5.6 percent during the first three months of 2018, slightly lower than the 5.9 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2017.

Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia had said the country’s economy would have grown within target in the first three months of 2018 were it not for “spoiler” inflation, which hit a new five-year high of 4.6 percent in May.