MANILA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Philippine business confidence for March and the next quarter declined amid concerns that rising fuel costs due to the Middle East conflict will dampen consumer spending, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey released Friday.
Results of the BSP's latest monthly Business Expectations Survey showed that the March confidence index (CI) was -24.3 percent, down from 8.2 percent in February.
The quarter-ahead CI was -17.3 percent compared with 37.4 percent in the previous survey. A negative CI means more respondents are pessimistic than optimistic.
Meanwhile, the economic outlook over the next 12 months remained positive but declined to 11.7 percent from 51.1 percent. The outlook was weighed down by uncertainty over heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and persistent inflationary pressures. ■
