Philippines ranks second in global optimism

The Philippines is now the second most optimistic country in the global survey, next to Peru which has an optimism balance of 98%. This is based on the first quarter of 2013 survey by the Grant Thorton International Business Report (IBR).

The survey showed that a balance of 90% of respondents among Filipino businesses said that they were optimistic about the domestic economy for the next 12 months. Optimism balance means the proportion of companies claiming that they are slightly or very optimistic as opposed to those who are slightly or very pessimistic.

On Wednesday, Punongbayan & Araullo (P & A), the Philippine member firm of Grant Thorton International released the survey results which showed that the proportion of optimistic businessmen in the Philippines was also much bigger than the average balance of 29% for the Southeast Asian region and 27% global average.

However, in the same survey, 46% of the respondents who were Filipino business leaders stated that there is not enough skilled workforce. This is a 26% increase from the 20% in the first quarter of 2012. On the other hand, also 46% said that over the next 12 months, they will hire new people.