Pinoys less pessimistic about spending - survey

Filipinos are now less pessimistic about spending, indicating that a growing number believe that now is the best time to purchase consumer electronics products, appliances, cars, and houses. Moreover, the number of consumers who plan to spend more on big-ticket items rose during the survey period, especially those who intend to buy durable goods such as appliances. This is according to the consumer confidence survey recently conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) during the third quarter of the year. Optimists defeated the pessimists as the BSP’s Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) improved to a negative 31.9 percent in the third quarter from the negative 34.2 percent three months earlier. The improvement in consumers’ outlook was “buoyed by recent news indicating improving global economic conditions and (by) stronger domestic macroeconomic fundamentals," BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said. Besides being higher by 2.3 index points on a quarterly basis, the figures are also 20.9 index points higher year on year. “Optimists attributed their positive outlook to expected improvement in household finances and lower personal debts given better economic conditions. Meanwhile, pessimists were concerned about low income, higher cost of commodities, and increase in household expenses," Tetangco added. Key confidence indicators – the Philippines’ economic conditions and the Filipino family’s financial situation and income – helped increase the index on both a quarterly and yearly bases. Not surprisingly, the most optimistic include those belonging to the high-income bracket while those who retained their bleak outlooks came from low-income groups. In the meantime, consumers who were polled said that they were anticipating higher expenses in the last three months of the year, owing to increased costs of basic goods and services, including electricity transportation, clothing, and footwear. - GMANews.TV