Half of Filipinos optimistic about economic growth, 40% expect no changes –OCTA Survey

Half of adult Filipinos think the local economy will post an improvement in the next six months, while some 40% believe there will be no changes from the present, results of the Tugon ng Masa (TNM) survey conducted by OCTA Research released on Sunday showed.

The survey, conducted March 24 to 28, 2023, found that 50% of respondents across the country think the economy will be better than the present, higher than the 46% recorded in October 2022.

The highest optimism was recorded in the Visayas with 69%, followed by balance Luzon with 47%, the National Capital Region (NCR) with 46%, and Mindanao with 43%.

In terms of socioeconomic classes, the highest optimism was seen in Class D with 51%, followed by Class E with 50%, and Class ABC with 44%.

Broken down geographically, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) posted the highest percentage with 79%, while the lowest was recorded in Soccsksargen with 12%.

Some 6% of respondents said they think the economy will be worse than the present in the next six months, down from the 10% percentage of pessimists in the previous survey conducted in October 2022.

The biggest percentage of pessimists was seen in Mindanao with 11%, followed by NCR with 7%, balance Luzon with 5%, and the Visayas with 3%.

Socioeconomically, the highest percentage of pessimists was in Class ABC with 11%, backed by Class E with 8%, and Class D with 5%.

The Davao Region had the highest percentage of pessimists with 19%, while the lowest was seen in CAR and Region II or the Cagayan Valley, with 0%.

Results also showed that 40% of respondents thought that there would be no changes in the next six months, while 4% were neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

The survey focused on the views of adult Filipinos regarding their quality of life and the economy, as commissioned by Go Negosyo. It has a ±3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level.

Just last week the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) maintained its economic growth projection at 6.0% to 7.0% for 2022, and from 6.5% to 8.0% from 2024 to 2028.

The economy expanded by 6.4% in the first quarter of the year, slower than the 8.0% growth in the first quarter of 2022, and the downward revised 7.1% in the fourth quarter of the previous year. — DVM, GMA Integrated News