By MAX ESTAYO

Consumer sentiment remained negative in the first quarter, roiled by the loud political noise but improved slightly from the fourth quarter of last year when respondents were more leery of the future.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that consumers were aware that property and car prices are very attractive but are holding on to their money until after next year.

Based on the latest consumer expectation survey done on 5,084 households, the very poor remain to be despondent while the rich is more confident on how they will fare and are ready to spend more.

The Confidence Index rose to -27.1 percent in the first quarter from -33.6 percent in the previous quarter and from -33.3 percent last year, the BSP said.

The CI is computed as the percentage share of households that answered in the affirmative less the percentage of households that answered negative in a given indicator.

The overall CI is computed as the average of the three indices, economic condition, family financial situation and family income, of all, which remained in the negative in the first quarter.

Those surveyed are more bullish for the second quarter and expect to fare better for the next 12 months.

The optimism is based on expected additional income from better prospects for domestic and overseas employment, business upturn and good farm harvests, the BSP said.

The salient points of the survey includes:

. Households are ready to spend more during the second quarter.

. They expect to spend more on water due to summer season

. Money will be spent on food'education, personal care, electricity and medical.

. More than half or 57 percent feel that it is good time to buy appliances computers and other items.

. Current time is conducive for buying cars and houses because of low interest rates.

. More are buying cars because of easy installment terms.

. All are not in a rush to buy because they are not sure of what will happen.

The survey, conducted on Jan. 15-Feb 14, covered 5,084 households, majority or 58.4 percent were from low-income groups (less than P10, 000 monthly family income), 36.5 percent from middle-income (P10,000-P29,999) and high-income (P30,000 and over).

The survey had a response rate of 97.6 percent.

The three major indices improved in the first quarter from the previous but remained negative, the BSP said.