CV economy stays robust

Philippine Statistics Authority regional director Ronaldo C. Taghap presents the economic figures during the 2016 Report on the Economy of Central Visayas News Conference at Bayfront Hotel.
(CDN PHOTO/AILEEN GARCIA-YAP)

Central Visayas registered a robust economic growth last year with a gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of P525 billion, an 8.8 percent growth, sustaining its position as among the fastest-growing regions in the country.

Philippine Statistics Authority Central Visayas (PSA-7) regional director Ronaldo C. Taghap presented the accumulated figures during a news conference on the 2016 Economic Performance of Region 7 at Bayfront Hotel yesterday.

According to Taghap, the combined income from different subsectors grouped under the services sector had the biggest contribution to the region’s GRDP growth with 55.5 percent share, while the industry sector contributed 39.1 percent; and agriculture, forestry and fisheries contributed 5.9 percent.

The services sector registered a product of P291.6 billion.

Taghap said that there are three main subsectors under services that brought in the positive figures. These include motorcycle, vehicle purchases and repair as well as personal and household spending (27 percent); other services which includes hotel, health and wellness, resort services (21.4 percent); and real estate, renting and business activities (19,8 percent).

“These indicate that people in the region can now afford to buy vehicles, motorcycle, real estate products and more travels. That only shows improvement and growth in other economic activities that are bringing in the jobs like the IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management),” said Efren B. Carreon, National Economic Development Authority (Neda) regional director.

The region’s per capita GRDP grew by 7 percent to P69,390 last year from only P64,846 in 2015.

This rate, however, is still not felt by many in the region as unemployment and underemployment remain a challenge, added Carreon.
Carreon noted that while the region’s employment rate stood at 94.8 percent last year, unemployment has not changed at 5.2 percent.

Underemployment was at 14.8 percent in 2016, even as it was an improvement from 18 percent in 2015.

“There is a need to address this to ensure that the growth in the region is inclusive,” he said.

Industry sector

Carreon said the Regional Development Plan for 2017-2022 has detailed strategies to address poverty alleviation, such as growing the industry sector.

In 2016, the industry sector grew by 14.6 percent, the highest growth among the three sectors, with services only growing by 5.9 percent and agriculture, forestry and fisheries declining by 0.6 percent.

Total product from the industry sector, however, was lower than that of the services sector at only P205.2 billion compared to the services sector’s P291.6 billion. This despite the fact that the sector has higher labor productivity rate than that of the services sector, according to Carreon.

Carreon said that with the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector contracting, there is a need to provide for an alternative means of livelihood to those who belong in this sector, and the industry sector can do that.

Under the industry sector are construction, manufacturing, mining and electricity, gas and water supply subsectors.

Last year, the region saw the fastest growth from the construction subsector, which grew by 40.4 percent, fueled by an increase in the number of real estate constructions in the region, said Carreon.

“The industry subsectors can provide jobs because unlike in the services sector, those skilled workers in the fisheries, agriculture and forestry sectors can easily get jobs in the manufacturing and other industry subsectors, which by the way has a higher rate of labor productivity compared to the agriculture sector,” he said.

Forecast

Despite the decline in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector, Carreon said they remain confident the region will meet its target annual growth from between 7.5 percent to 8 percent from 2017 to 2022.

He said the construction subsector is seen to continue to grow especially with the current administration’s “Build, Build, Build” direction and thus will fuel more investments from the private sector.

“There are at least five big ticket construction projects in the pipeline which will fuel more economic activities in the region,” he said.

These projects include the new Cebu International Container port in Consolacion, the Metro Cebu Expressway, the third bridge connecting Cordova and Cebu City, a fourth bridge connecting mainland Cebu and Mactan Island, and a bridge connecting Panglao Island and Tagbilaran City in Bohol.

Carreon said the government has set a target of allocating 5 percent to 7 percent of the gross domestic product to infrastructure projects by end of 2022 or at least P8 trillion.

Tourism, IT

Carreon said tourism will continue to fuel more growth for the region, which will benefit from the completion of two major infrastructure projects – the new terminal of Mactan Cebu International Airport and the new Panglao International Airport.

“These projects are seen to add to our accessibility complemented by our recent successful hosting of international events which are effective in promoting our region to more tourism and trade activities,” he said.

The IT-BPM sector is also projected to continue to expand with more companies offering more sophisticated higher value services coming in.

He said that as of 2016, at least 80,000 employees were recorded in companies within the different IT zones in the region.

“We think the number is already at 100,000 workers if we include those companies not locating within the IT parks. The sector is projected to be a $40 billion sector by 2022 employing 7.6 million people directly and indirectly,” he said.

With all these bright prospects, Carreon said the region is in its best position to sustain its standing as among the fastest-growing region in the country.

In 2016, Central Visayas registered the fourth fastest growth in the country after Eastern Visayas (12.4 percent growth), Central Luzon (9.5 percent growth) and Davao Region (9.4 percent growth).

Central Visayas also ranked fourth in terms of contribution to the national total GDP at 6.4 percent after the National Capital Region (36.6 percent), Calabarzon (16.8 percent) and Central Luzon (9.5 percent).