SWS: 42% of Filipinos optimistic PH economy will improve in 12 months

Image: Courtesy of sws.org.ph

MANILA, Philippines — Forty-two percent of Filipinos are optimistic that the state of the Philippine economy will improve in the next 12 months, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed Tuesday.

Aside from those what the SWS called as “economic optimists,” the survey also revealed that 28 percent of adult Filipinos expect that the state of the economy will remain the same, while 18 percent belong to the “economic pessimists” — or those who believe that the economy will worsen in the next 12 months.

The survey, SWS said, was conducted from Nov. 21-25, using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adult Filipinos (600 in Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao), aged 18-years-old and above.

Because of the survey results, the SWS said that the Net Economic Optimism score — or the percentage of economic optimists minus the percentage of economic pessimists — is at +24 or regarded as “high.”

The +24 Net Economic Optimism score, according to the survey, is an improvement from the previously recorded figure of -9 Net Economic Optimism score last July 2020, and -5 last September 2020.

The latest SWS survey had sampling error margins of of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, the pollster said.

“The survey item reported here was non-commissioned. It was done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” SWS added.

For the survey, respondents were asked about economic optimism or pessimism. The exact question was:

“Sa darating na 12 buwan, ano sa palagay ninyo ang mangyayari sa ekonomiya ng Pilipinas? Masasabi ba ninyo na ito ay BUBUTI, KAPAREHO LANG, o SASAMA?”

(Over the next 12 months, what do you think will happen to the economy of the Philippines? Would you say it WILL BE BETTER, SAME, or WILL BE WORSE?)

JPV