Savings, big-ticket purchase plans down in Q3–BSP By Cai U. Ordinario
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U RC H A SI NG big-t ic ket items and setting aside savings by consumers decreased in the third quarter, according to the latest data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The results of the Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) showed that when it comes to buying bigticket items, consumers have become even more pessimistic as the Confidence Index (CI) contracted further. The data showed the CI for buy-
ing big ticket items—consumer durables, motor vehicle, and housing—posted a contraction of 68.9 percent in the third quarter from a decline of 64.5 percent in the second quarter 2024. “Consumers are more hesitant about buying big-ticket items in Q3 (third quarter) 2024,"”BSP said. “For the next 12 months, buying intentions for big-ticket items remain pessimistic.” BSP data also showed the percentage of households that plan to buy/acquire real property within the next 12 months slightly decreased to 4.2 percent from 4.7 percent in the second quarter 2024
survey results. When asked about the price range of real properties they intend to purchase in the next 12 months, more than half or 53.8 percent of the households indicated a range of P450,000 and below. The data also showed 31.7 percent and 14.5 percent of households plan to buy a house and/or lot worth P450,001 to P1.7 million and P1,700,001 and above, respectively. “In particular, fewer households plan to acquire single-detached houses, apartments, and condominium units,” BSP said. “By area, buying intentions
for the next 12 months were less downbeat in the NCR (National Capital Region), but little changed in AONCR (Areas Outside the National Capital Region),” it added. Meanwhile, in terms of savings, BSP data showed the percentage of households with savings decreased to 29 percent in the third quarter from 31.4 percent in the second quarter. BSP said the decline in the percentage of savers was mainly due to the lower percentage of households with savings in the highincome group. This outweighed
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See “Savings,” A2
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END-AUG BORROWINGS UP 17% ON BUDGET GAP n
DFA CHIEF AT THE U.N. Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo (inset) delivers
By Reine Juvierre Alberto
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his speech before the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, where the Philippine delegation he led ramped up its campaign for a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council. Manalo, in an interview with BusinessMirror after his speech, said he hoped his meetings with 35 foreign minister counterparts boosted that campaign. He batted for UNSC reforms (Story in A5 News) and cited the Philippines’s continuing assertion of its rights in the South China Sea (Story in A3 Nation). PHOTO BY TROI SANTOS/BM NEW YORK
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HE national government borrowed P1.933 trillion as of the end of August 2024 to finance its budget deficit. Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed gross borrowings from January to August 2024 represent a 17.36-percent increase from the P1.647 trillion raised during the same period in 2023. Debt incurred from domestic sources accounted for 85.91 percent of the total gross borrowings amounting to P1.661 trillion, which increased by 32.58 percent year-on-year from P1.253 trillion. Gross domestic borrowings included P161.703 billion from net Treasury bills (T-bills), P584.861 billion from Retail Treasury bonds (RTBs) last February 2024, and P904.207 in fixed-rate Treasury bonds (T-bonds). The government has yet to secure retail onshore T-bonds and tokenized bonds as part of its domestic borrowing plan this year.
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Meanwhile, a total of P282.464 billion was obtained from foreign financers See “End-Aug,” A2
PHL FINALLY COVERS TRAVEL PLANS OF MAINLAND CHINESE By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
O
UTBOUND travel is recovering swiftly in mainland China, w ith its citizens helping boost concerts and sports events around the world. Dragon Trail Research’s Chinese Traveler Sentiment Repor t a s of September showed of the 1,025 Chinese travelers surveyed, “16 per-
cent had traveled outside of mainland China already in 2024—and 60 percent of this group had made at least two outbound trips.” In the same period last year, only 4 percent of the survey respondents had traveled outside their country. Also, 17 percent of those surveyed this year already had booked an outbound trip, compared to just 9 percent at the same time last year. See “PHL,” A2
FedEx upbeat on prospects in Clark National Food Hub
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By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
HE Luzon Economic Corridor which is seen to house the Clark National Food Hub, bodes well for logistics firm FedEx Philippines, as this will boost the freight business and enable the firm to help small players in the agribusiness sector within the country. “We are hoping that would be happening very soon because that will be a boost for us because we’re dealing with cargo. The ones that they’re doing mainly from Manila
to Clark is mainly passenger,” Maribeth Espinosa , FedEx Philippines Managing Director told reporters at a briefing on Friday in Clark, Pampanga. “But I’m also very optimistic about the food hub that they’re doing right here and the agro-industrial that they’re doing for Luzon,” added Espinosa. The FedEx Philippines official said the firm sees the food hub as an opportunity to extend assistance to small enterprises under the Agribusiness sector in the country. See “FedEx,” A2
PESO exchange rates n US 56.0170 n japan 0.3869 n UK 75.1580 n HK 7.2017 n CHINA 7.9899 n singapore 43.6678 n australia 38.6013 n EU 62.6102 n KOREA 0.0427 n SAUDI arabia 14.9343 Source: BSP (September 27, 2024)