Filipino business owners are more upbeat about their prospects over the next 12 months as the economy began to adapt to the new economic landscape of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the central bank.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the outlook on the country’s economy over the course of 2021 was more upbeat in its latest Business Expectations Survey conducted between February and March, but before the latest lockdown was imposed due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the greater Metro Manila area.
In this survey, the confidence index of business owners increased to 60.5 percent from the fourth quarter 2020 survey result of 57.7 percent.
This was mainly due to the easing of quarantine restrictions and reopening of businesses, observations that people were adapting to the “new normal,” increase in volume of sales and orders, the rollout of vaccine for COVID-19, and the development of new business or marketing strategies.
“Notably, the next 12 months’ confidence index is the highest index recorded since the start of the 12-month outlook in the third quarter of 2019,” the central bank said.
Source: business.inquirer.net and BSP