Economic optimism down in latest SWS poll

With high inflation affecting the spending power of Filipinos, optimism on the economy is down, the latest Social Weather Survey (SWS) showed.

The SWS explained that 31 percent of respondents were optimistic that the Philippine economy next year would get better, and 20 percent feel it would deteriorate, for a Net Economic Optimists score of +11.

“This is 19 points below the +30 (excellent) in June 2018, and is the lowest since the +6 (high) in March 2015,” the pollster said.

The survey was conducted from September 15 to 23, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 respondents, 18 years old and above, nationwide.

The sample includes 600 in Balance Luzon, and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It has a sampling margin error of ±3 percent for national percentages while ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

SWS said Net Economic Optimists refers to expectations about the general Philippine economy and is different from Net Personal Optimism, which refers to expectations in personal quality of life. /ee

READ: SWS: More Filipinos believe quality of life worsened