Consumer confidence in the Philippines reached a record high in the second quarter, because of the availability of more jobs and effective government policies, results of the latest consumer expectation survey of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.
The overall confidence index climbed to 13.1 percent in the second quarter, the fourth consecutive quarter that consumer confidence registered a positive reading. This indicates that the number of households with optimistic views increased and continued to be greater than those with pessimistic views.
Respondents cited the improvements in the peace and order situation, additional family income due to higher salary and stronger business activity, availability of more jobs and an increase in the number of employed family members and effective government policies as the reasons for their optimism.
For the next quarter (third quarter), consumer sentiment turned less optimistic as the index declined to 13.6 percent (from 16.5 percent in the previous quarter’s survey), but improved for the year ahead to 34.3 percent (from 31.7 percent).