OCTA: 38% of Filipinos think PH economy will improve in next 6 months

Thirty-eight percent of adult Filipinos believe that the economy of the country will get better over the next six months, results of a non-commissioned survey by OCTA Research showed Monday.

Based on the December 2023 survey results, 51% of Filipinos think that the economy will remain the same, 8% believe it will worsen over the same period, while 3% said they don’t know.

In terms of socioeconomic classes, Class ABC (51%) recorded the highest percentage of respondents who anticipate improvement in the Philippine economy. Most of those who said it will get worse came from Class E (12%).

OCTA noted that the percentage of adult Filipinos optimistic about the Philippine economy over the next six months ranged from 10% to 66%, with Northern Mindanao (66%) recording the highest optimism rate.

The lowest optimism percentage was logged in Davao Region (10%), followed by Mimaropa (12%).

Likewise, the highest pessimism percentage was observed in the Davao Region (35%). The Bicol Region (81%) had the highest percentage of those who think that the economy will stay the same.

“Optimism regarding the country’s economy among adult Filipinos increased from 27 percent in October 2023 to 38 percent in December 2023. While pessimism regarding the economy decreased, from 14 percent in October to 8 percent in December 2023,” OCTA said.

Quality of life

The research group also found that about 49% of Filipino adults believe that their quality of life will improve over the next six months.

Forty-five percent, on the other hand, said that their quality of life will stay the same, while 4% think that it will worsen.

The highest optimism percentage was recorded in the Visayas (58%) and the lowest was in Mindanao (40%).

With this, OCTA said that optimism regarding the Filipinos’ quality of life increased by 15%---from 34% in October 2023 to 49% in December 2023.

Meanwhile, pessimism decreased by three percent from 7% to 4%.

The OCTA survey was conducted from December 10 to 14, 2023, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. It had a ±3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News