MANILA – Better employment opportunities and availability of other sources of income led to the improvement of consumer sentiments in the first quarter of 2023, results of a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey showed.
Results of the consumer expectation survey (CES) conducted from Jan. 19 to 31 indicated that while the confidence index (CI) remains on the negative, it has improved to -10.4 percent from -14.6 percent in the previous quarter.
Aside from the availability of more jobs and permanent employment, other factors for the improvement in consumer sentiments are higher income from wages or salaries, remittances and other sources; and positive developments in vaccination, testing and masking requirements.
The BSP said the less pessimistic outlook among consumers in the first quarter of this year is similar to those in the euro area, India, Thailand and the United States.
Index for the next quarter went down to 7.5 percent from the previous quarter’s 9.5 percent but the BSP said this remains on the positive territory as the decline due to concerns about the faster upticks in the prices of goods, higher household spending, lower income, high unemployment rate and the effectiveness of government policies and programs for social support and importation of major food items.
For the next 12 months, the CI rose to 22.7 percent from quarter-ago’s 21.7 percent due to expectations for more available jobs, stable prices of goods, higher income, additional sources of income and programs to ease inflation on basic commodities and to provide assistance against inflation to low-income households.
“However, the general optimism of consumers was somewhat mitigated by a subset of respondents who were less upbeat amid their continuing concerns over higher household expenses,” the BSP said.
Results of the survey also showed that the generally better consumer sentiments came from both the National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside NCR (AONCR).
In terms of buying intentions, survey results showed that consumers are also less pessimistic on this aspect for this quarter, with the index down to -72.8 percent from -74.5 percent during the survey in the last quarter of 2022.
The percentage of households saying they have savings increased to 32.9 percent from 30.5 percent in the previous quarter’s survey, and this was attributed to higher percentage of households with savings from the low- and middle-income households
Reasons for having savings include having funds for emergencies, health and medical expenses, retirement, education and house purchase.
Respondents who kept their savings in banks rose to 82.8 percent from 76.8 percent in the previous quarter’s survey.
Others said they keep their funds at home, cooperatives, paluwagan (pooled funds), credit/loan associations, investments and other institutions.
In terms of select economic indicators, respondents who expect inflation rate to rise declined relative to the previous quarter’s survey but for the next 12 months, more respondents expect inflation to accelerate further. (PNA)
