MANILA -- A Dun & Bradstreet survey released on Wednesday showed that businessmen registered optimism for the second quarter this year, buoyed by signs of global economic recovery and election spending.

“The bright prospects validate widespread expectation of economic gains amidst heavy election spending along with the rush to complete government-funded infrastructure projects, continuing growth in Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) remittances, increase in exports and the relatively tame inflation outlook at 4.3 percent to 4.6 percent (year-on-year) for the quarter,” the report said.

University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) economics professor Victor Abola added that the renewed optimism on the domestic economy is essential for the Philippines to achieve a higher-end of 3.6 percent growth in 2010.

The survey, which was conducted two weeks ago, included 250 firms from eight sectors: construction, manufacturing durables, manufacturing non-durables, wholesale, transport/communication/utilities, retail, services, and finance/insurance/real estate

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