People walk at the business district of Makati City on March 1, 2022, on the first day under COVID-19 Alert Level 1 status. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA - Business sentiment is more optimistic in the second quarter, but is less buoyant in the third quarter and the next 12 months, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas released Friday showed.
The overall confidence index (CI) rose to 35.4 percent in Q2 from 32.9 percent in the previous quarter, according to the second quarter Business Expectations Survey (BES) by the BSP.
For Q3, business sentiment weakened but remained positive as the overall CI declined to 46.4 percent from 59.7 percent from the previous quarter, data showed.
The trend is also less optimistic for the next 12 months as the overall CI decreased to 59.9 percent from 69.8 percent, the BSP said.
By trading firms, outlook is generally more upbeat in the second quarter but is "largely less buoyant for the near term," the BSP said.
Meanwhile firms expect their financial condition and access to credit to improve in the second quarter, it added.
In the third quarter, the employment outlook index was steady at 25.4 percent. It is also higher at 30.7 percent for the next 12 months, the survey showed.
"The higher positive readings for Q3 2022 and the next 12 months suggest that firms are looking forward to hiring more people in the next quarter and the next several months," the BSP said.
In the second and third quarter and the next 12 months, businesses are expecting the peso to depreciate further against the dollar. Inflation and borrowing rates could also rise further during the period, the survey showed.
Inflation soared to 5.4 percent in May and is likely to settle between 5.7 to 6.5 percent in June.
The BSP earlier hiked its benchmark interest rate to 2.5 percent to tame inflation.