For the first time in 12 years, business confidence spiraled down due to the shift in foreign policy from 45.4 percent in the 3rd quarter down to 39.8 percent in the 4rth quarter.
A Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey indicated overall confidence index of the Business Expectation Survey dropped to its lowest since 2004.
BSP Assistant Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. said “business outlook on the economy turned less optimistic. This indicates that the number of pessimists increased but remained less than the optimists during the quarter.”
The last time the confidence index for the fourth quarter declined was in 2004 when it retreated to 18.6 percent from 30.5 percent, Dakila said.
Dakila said importers and exporters were less upbeat due to concerns over the impact of the country’s foreign and economic policies.
The weakening of the peso against the dollar was also hurting the economy with business outlook for the fourth quarter less buoyant. The US dollar came in strong after the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump.