Businessmen turned less bullish in the first quarter this year, with the moderation of consumer demand after the Christmas season, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in its latest survey.
Results of the latest Bangko Sentral business expectations survey showed the overall confidence index declined slightly to 45.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015 from 48.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Respondents attributed their less upbeat quarter-on-quarter outlook to the usual slowdown in business activities and moderation of consumer demand after the Christmas season; continued effects of past typhoons on crop production and businesses; and concerns over the backlog in deliveries caused by the recent port congestion problem.
Other reasons were the lack of supply of fish due to Indonesia’s stricter new marine laws which limited the fishing ground of local fishermen and closed fishing season for sardines.
“The sentiment of businesses in the Philippines mirrored the less sanguine business outlook in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong and India and was in contrast to the more buoyant views of those in the US, Canada and Germany,” Bangko Sentral said.
Bangko Sentral said, however, business outlook turned bullish for the second quarter this year, with the index jumping to 58.2 percent from 43.1 percent in the last survey.