Consumer sentiment improved and businesses are more optimistic in the fourth quarter of the year, results of the latest Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) and Business Expectations Survey (BES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

Results of the CES released late Thursday showed that the consumer sentiment in the fourth quarter improved as the overall confidence index (CI) turned less negative at -11.1 percent from -15.6 percent in the third quarter.

The CES is a quarterly survey of a random sample of about 5,000 households in the Philippines.

It covers three components of the consumer outlook which include overall economic condition, family financial situation, and family income.

The BSP said the improved sentiment in the fourth quarter was due to higher and additional sources of income, more working family members, and more available jobs and permanent employment.

For the first quarter of 2025 and the next 12 months, the BSP said consumer confidence also improved.

"The more upbeat outlook of consumers for both periods was attributed to expectations of higher income, additional sources of income, and more available jobs," said the central bank.

BUSINESS EXPECTATIONS

Results of the BES meanwhile, showed that the overall CI climbed to 44.5 percent from 32.9 percent in the third quarter.

The BES is a quarterly survey of firms drawn at random from the list of top 7,000 corporations ranked based on total assets in 2017 from the Bureau van Dijk database.

The BSP said results of the BES provide advance indication of the direction of the change in overall business activity in the economy and in the various measures of their operations as well as in selected economic indicators.

"The firms’ more bullish business confidence in Q4 (fourth quarter) 2024 was driven by their anticipation of an increase in demand for certain goods and services and the related seasonal uptick in business activities," said the BSP.

"In particular, this could lead to increased demand in agricultural products, infrastructure projects, shipping and distribution services, transportation units, enrollment, chemicals, graphics services, among others," it added.
 

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