Businesses’ optimism on the state of the economy was more pronounced for the fourth quarter, reaching an all-time high of 59.2 percent, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) latest survey showed.

This was more than 10 percent higher than last quarter’s 46.3 percent.

The latest results of the Business Expectations Survey (BES) also showed that business sentiment remained positive and on an uptrend since Q3 2009, with the overall confidence index (CI) rising to 45.0 percent from 43.9 percent in Q2 2010 and from 18.4 percent in Q3 2009.

The confidence index is computed as the percentage of firms that answered in the affirmative less the percentage of firms that answered in the negative with respect to their views on a given indicator.

The central bank said that the respondents attributed their optimistic outlook to the following factors: steady growth of overseas Filipinos’ (OFs) remittances, smooth transition of power and favorable expectations on the new government that could boost investor confidence in the economy, better performance of exports and sustained investment inflows, and government spending on infrastructure, social services and environment protection that could spur business activity. Read more...

By Jimmy Calapati (www.malaya.com.ph)