SWS: 40% of Filipinos optimistic about economy

February 29, 2024 | 9:26am

Shoppers flock to Divisoria to purchase discounted items on June 4, 2023.

STAR / Edd Gumban

MANILA, Philippines — Four in 10 adult Filipinos expected the Philippine economy to pick up in the next 12 months, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll released Thursday. 

Citing its December 8 to 12 survey, SWS said 40% of adult Filipinos were optimistic that the country’s economy would improve. 

More Filipinos, or 44%, believed it would stay the same, while 10% said it would worsen. 

The resulting net optimism score was +30, classified by SWS as “very high.” The score was lower than the “very high” +35 recorded in September 2023. 

“It has been at very high levels since March 2023, following a decline from the excellent levels from December 2021 to December 2022,” the polling firm said. 

SWS noted that the net optimism score fell to “very high” +30 from “excellent” +41 in Luzon areas outside Metro Manila and to “very high” +32 from “excellent” +41 in Mindanao. 

However, the score rose to “very high” +36 from “fair” +16 in Metro Manila and to “high” +25 from “fair” +15 in Visayas. 

Net score optimism was highest among those who either graduated from college or took post-graduate studies at “very high” +35, followed by those who either finished junior and senior high school, completed vocational school or attended college at “very high” +34, those who either finished elementary or had some high school education at “high” +24, and those who either had no formal education or attended elementary at “high” +22. 

A recent SWS survey showed that the number of Filipinos expecting the quality of their lives to improve in the next 12 months dropped to 44%, down from 48%.

According to SWS, net economic optimism was higher among personal optimists at “excellent” +56 than those who said their personal lives would stay the same at “fair” +15.  Among personal pessimists, it was at “extremely low” -37.

The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults, with a margin of error of ±2.8% for national percentages and ±5.7% for regional breakdowns. — Gaea Katreena Cabico