MANILA — Malacañang on Thursday attributed the “excellent” net personal optimism of the Filipinos based on the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) to the country’s growing economy.
“Our people are feeling the effects of a growing economy,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement.
The SWS 2018 First Quarter survey shows that Filipinos expecting their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months remains “excellent” at +40.
“Further, the same survey reveals that net optimism about the economy continues to be ‘excellent’ across all geographic areas and socioeconomic classes, standing at +31, which means that many of our countrymen are optimistic that the Philippine economy next year would get better,” Roque said.
Roque said the Palace considers the latest survey results as a vote of confidence in President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his economic team.
“Our economy remains on target hitting 6.8 percent during the first quarter of 2018,” Roque said.
According to an SWS survey conducted on March 23-27 to 1,200 respondents across the nation, the optimism in Mindanao stayed at 50 points while downed by 7 points in Visayas to a score of 23 and by 8 points in Metro Manila to a score of 28. The Balance of Luzon’s number decreased by 12 points to a score of 28.
Overall, the latest SWS survey shows 46 percent of the Filipinos are optimistic that their lives will improve in the coming 12 months while 6 percent expect it to get worse, resulting to net personal optimism score of +40.
The net personal optimism in the last quarter of 2017 was at +46. (Jelly Musico/PNA)