(CDN PHOTO/VICTOR ANTHONY V. SILVA)
The Central Visayas economy grew at a slower rate at 4.8 percent last year compared to 7.8 percent the previous year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.
PSA Central Visayas Director Ronaldo Taghap said it’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) was valued at P483 billion in 2015.
The services sector emerged as the highest contributor to the Central Visayas GRDP with a 57.2 percent share, followed by industry with 36.9 percent and Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (AHFF) with 5.9 percent.
Taghap said services grew 8.9 percent last year while AHFF rebounded from negative 1.9 percent in 2014 to 2.3 percent in 2015. Industry, meanwhile, plunged from 11.3 percent in 2014 to negative 0.5 percent in 2015.
Taghap said the decline in the industry sector contributed to the region’s decelerated growth in 2015.
Central Visayas contributed 6.4 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015 and 0.31 percentage points to its 5.8-percent growth rate.
“We should work together to rebound our performance for 2016,” he said.
The data covered Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor. It also included Negros Oriental, which only recently became part of the newly created Negros Island Region (NIR).