3 cities in Cebu in top 10 provinces, HUCs list with high economic growth in 2022

Lapu-Lapu City lands at 3rd, Cebu City at 5th while Mandaue City sits at 8th in the PSA list

FILE PHOTO/Christian Dave Cuizon

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue were included in the top 10 provinces and highly urbanized cities (HUCs) that were doing good in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 compiled through the Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

According to the result released on Monday, March 18, the first-ever PPA covered 16 pilot regions outside the National Capital Region, which comprised 82 provinces and 17 HUCs from November to December 2023.

The PSA said that the PPA “is a mechanism to compile the GDP at the subnational level.” It highlights the economic performance of the provinces and HUCs in 2023, specifically in their per capita GDP, which is defined as the estimated average contribution of each individual to the GDP.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services that are bought by consumers. Such services should be produced in a country in a given period of time, either in a quarter or a year. 

GDP ‘counts all of the output generated within the borders of a country.’

As for HUCs, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government, highly urbanized cities or HUCs, these are the cities that have a minimum population of 200,000 inhabitants as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority and within the latest annual income of at least P50 million.

Top 10 fastest-growing provinces and HUCs in terms of per capita GDP annual growth rates at constant 2018 prices, 2021-2022

Moreover, the PSA noted that almost all provinces and HUCs posted growths in their 2022 annual per capita GDP from their levels in 2021, with Aklan being the fastest at 21.5 percent.

Source: PSA

Aklan was followed by the City of Puerto Princesa with 12.8 percent, City of Tacloban with 12.1 percent, and Nueva Vizcaya with 12.0 percent annual growth. It was followed by Davao Oriental and the City of Lapu-Lapu with 11 percent, respectively.

Next on the list was Batanes with 10.7 percent, then Baguio City with 10.5 percent, and lastly Zambales with 9.6 percent.

Furthermore, these top 10 provinces and HUCs ‘recorded growths faster than the national per capita GDP growth rate of 6.2 percent’ according to PSA.

READ: Central Visayas inflation rate increased in February 2024

Top 10 provinces and HUCs in terms of per capita GDP at constant 2018 prices, 2022

Meanwhile, the City of Baguio has the highest per capita GDP in 2022 among pilot provinces and HUCs with P420,016.

Baguio was followed by the City of Cagayan de Oro with P343,936; third was the City of Lapu-Lapu with P313,039; fourth City of Iloilo with P306,444; then fifth was Bataan with P297,930.

The City of Cebu ranked sixth with P293,426, followed by Laguna in seventh place with P287,280.

The City of Mandaue ranked eighth with P274,376, then in ninth place was the City of Davao with P258,811; and in tenth place was Batanes with P251,955.

“The compilation of PPA has been implemented in all regions in the Philippines as of 2023, except in the NCR, which is scheduled for pilot implementation in 2024. By 2025, the PPA is programmed to be institutionalized in all regions, which ensures annual compilation of PPA for all provinces and HUCs in the country,” the PSA said.

READ: Cebu’s inflation rate rose in Feb compared to January