MANILA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Presidential Palace welcomed on Tuesday a recent Fitch report that shows consumer outlook of the Philippines remains upbeat.
Citing the latest report by BMI Research, the research unit of the Fitch Group Company, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the sustained positive outlook is driven by the country's strong economic performance and rapidly rising income brought by record-breaking remittances from overseas Filipino workers among others.
BMI Research said in a report dated Feb. 14 that "the consumer outlook in the Philippines remains bright on the back of a strong economic performance and rapidly rising incomes, influenced by a tight labor market and sustained remittance inflows."
"Data from the Central Bank of the Philippines show, overseas Filipino remittances for 2017 posting an all-time high of 28.1 billion U.S. dollars, rising by 4.3 percent over the 26.9 billion U.S. dollars registered in 2016," Roque said in a press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace.
He said the Duterte administration will continue its efforts to sustain the country's growth and consumer confidence through its "Build, Build, Build" program which will boost infrastructure investment and generate more jobs for all Filipinos.
The Central Bank's Consumer Expectation Survey for the fourth quarter of 2017 revealed consumers sustained optimism for the first quarter of 2018 as confidence index showed only a slight decline to 17.5 percent from 17.8 percent in the fourth quarter survey, Roque added.