The Philippine private business sector is among the most optimistic in the world, second only to Peru’s, according to the recently-released Grant Thomson International Business Report (IBR) survey results for the first quarter of 2013.
The international report reveals that a “balance” of 90 per cent of Filipino businessmen surveyed were optimistic about the domestic economy for the next 12 months. This represents an 18 per cent improvement over the level of confidence reported in the last quarter of 2012.
The “balance” refers to the proportion of respondents reporting that they are very or slightly optimistic less those claiming they are very or slightly pessimistic.
The global average in business confidence level reported for the period is 27 per cent while the average for Southeast Asia is 29 percent, implying Philippine businessmen has soared very high in bullishness compared to counterparts in the region and the world.
The report, however, indicates a big gap between local entrepreneurs’ desire to hire new employees and their perspective on the availability of the manpower pool.
While 46 per cent of the Filipino business executives surveyed said they plan to hire new staff over the next 12 months, the same proportion of respondents said that there was lack of skilled manpower, pointing out this was a constraint to business growth.