The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) has begun publishing a monthly Business Expectations Survey, a move aimed at capturing shifts in business confidence more quickly as economic conditions evolve at home and abroad.
Results from the inaugural January 2026 survey show that optimism among firms remains intact, even as sentiment cooled from late last year. The Confidence Index stood at a positive 0.9 percent, signaling that optimists still outnumber pessimists, though well below the 29.7 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Despite the softer reading, expectations improved further out, with the three-month-ahead and year-ahead confidence indices rising to 33.3 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively.
Businesses cited expectations of stronger consumer demand and ongoing improvements in business processes as key factors supporting their outlook. Looking ahead, firms also pointed to healthier domestic economic conditions, better sales prospects, and more favorable investment opportunities as reasons for increased confidence over the next quarter and the next 12 months.
The monthly survey mirrors the structure of the previous quarterly round, using the same questionnaire and sampling framework with minor adjustments to the reference period. Each month now covers around 500 firms nationwide, about one-third of the roughly 1,500 companies surveyed quarterly.
While this raises the nationwide margin of error to about 6.0 percent from 3.0 percent, the BSP said the figure remains within the acceptable range for enterprise-level surveys.
According to the central bank, the shift to a monthly Business Expectations Survey is part of its broader push to strengthen its macroeconomic surveillance, allowing policymakers to respond more swiftly to emerging trends and risks in the economy.
