Business optimism in PH falls in Q1–global survey

Business optimism in the Philippine economy in the first quarter of 2016 has dropped by 18 points compared to the previous quarter, a global survey conducted by an international audit and tax services firm revealed on Thursday.

The Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR), a quarterly global business survey of 2,500 businesses in 36 economies, showed that firms’ optimism for the next 12 months in the Philippine economy fell to 56 percent in the first quarter of 2016 from 84 percent during the last quarter of 2015.

Business expectations also dipped in the fields of selling prices at 34 percent from 62 percent and employment at 42 percent from 60 percent.

Meanwhile, expectations for revenue, exports and research and development investment in the Philippines have improved.

READ: Business execs bullish on PH

The report also noted that business optimism globally has dipped to its lowest level in three years at net 26 percent while business optimism in the Asia Pacific has fallen to 21 percent from 31 percent during the last quarter of 2015.

Joining the Philippines in suffering a dip in business optimism in their economies are China, from 36 percent to 27 percent, and Malaysia, from -14 percent to -24 percent. On the other hand, optimism has increased among businesses in Thailand and Indonesia.

P&A Grant Thornton Chairperson and CEO Marivic Españo said that firms in the Philippines are confident in their outlook on their revenue and employment plans.

“The message from business across Asia Pacific is that their outlook for the economy has weakened in the last three months. A range of external factors will have played their role, not least the volatility we saw in financial markets in the first quarter which will have knocked sentiment.”

“However, when businesses look internally at their own operations, the outlook is much brighter. Despite the wider uncertainty, many surveyed firms in the Philippines are confident about their prospects for revenue and employment plans. Much of the sentiment across the region is linked to activity in China and while growth there is still expected to cool, there is a broad feeling that the pace and the extent of the Chinese economic slowdown has not been as bad as feared,” Españo said in a statement. CDG

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