SWS: 33% of Filipinos more optimistic about economy

Filipinos became more optimistic about the country’s economic prospects over the next 12 months, with the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing a 24-point rebound in net economic optimism from its low in March.

The June 2026 survey found that 33 percent of adult Filipinos expected the Philippine economy to improve over the next 12 months, while 24 percent believed it would worsen. Another 32 percent expected conditions to remain unchanged. This brought the net economic optimism score to +10, which SWS classified as “fair.”

The latest reading marked a sharp recovery from the -14 score recorded in March, when economic optimism fell into “low” territory.

SWS said the March reading was the first negative net economic optimism score since face-to-face interviewing resumed in November 2020. It was also the lowest since the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the score stood at -9 in July 2020 and -5 in September 2020 before recovering to +24 in November 2020.

The rebound follows a longer period of deterioration in Filipinos’ economic expectations.

Net economic optimism had remained at “excellent” and “very high” levels from 2021 through 2024 before declining to +18, or “fair,” in March 2025. It then slipped to +9, classified as “mediocre,” in September 2025 and +6 in November before falling to -14 in March 2026.

The improvement in economic optimism came despite a period when the Philippine economy was dealing with slower growth, elevated inflation and external shocks. Economic growth expanded 2.3 percent in the second quarter, while inflation accelerated to nearly seven times its end-2025 level amid the Gulf conflict.

Despite the rebound in sentiment, the SWS score remained within the “fair” range rather than returning to the stronger levels recorded in earlier years. SWS distinguishes net economic optimism from net personal optimism, which measures expectations about respondents’ own quality of life.

The latest survey was conducted from 20 to 29 June 2026. The June reading was released as SWS reported a separate improvement in Filipinos’ expectations for their personal quality of life.