Philippine business confidence fell to minus 20.3 in July from zero in June
Philippine business confidence turned negative in July, with the current-month confidence index falling to minus 20.3 from zero in June, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas survey showed Friday.
The turn was sharp. Expectations remained positive but weakened across both horizons: the three-month index fell to 3.7 from 18.8, and the 12-month index to 29.4 from 42.4. Average capacity utilization declined to 68.6 percent from 73.9 percent.
The survey covered 506 companies nationwide from July 7 through July 31 and had a 48.8 percent response rate. Its margin of error was plus or minus 6.1 percentage points. Businesses expected 5.6 percent inflation over the following 12 months, unchanged from June and above the central bank's 4 percent upper target boundary.