Central Visayas economy slows down to 4.8% in 2015

CEBU, Philippines - The Central Visayas economy grew at a slower pace in 2015 by 4.8 percent, pulled down by the contraction in the industry sector, the government reported yesterday.

"This is the first time in 12 years that the national economy grew faster than the regional economy. GDP growth in 2015 was recorded at 5.9 percent," Efren Carreon, regional director of the National Economic and Develoment Authority, told a news briefing yesterday.

"Be that as it may, we consider the 4.8 percent growth respectable, given the difficult external environment that affected demand for our exports, the onset of the El Niño, and the challenges in government spending during the year," Carreon explained.

The 4.8 percent growth last year was lower than the revised 7.8 percent gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth posted in 2014. The 2015 growth is also much lower than the Regional Develoment Plan's low-end target of 9.7 percent.

"With the deceleration, the region's six-year average GRDP growth is at 8.1 percent, still the highest six-year growth average ever recorded. This is even higher than the national six-year average of 6.2 percent," the NEDA official said.

Carreon said the slowing down of region's economic growth is temporary.

"The Central Visayas economy is expected to continue to be the fourth largest economy, with a rebound in manufacturing, exports, construction, and increased public sector spending in infrastructure under the new administration," he said.

The CV economy was valued at P866.9 billion, still the fourth largest economy in the country, after NCR, CALABARZON and Central Luzon.

The services sector continued to lead the growth in the regional economy last year, rising 8.9 percent.

"As the Central Visayas economy is driven by the services sector, we expected faster growth in this sector," Carreon said. While the agriculture sector rebounded last year, growing 2.3 percent from a 1.9 percent contraction in 2014.

Pulling down the growth last was the 0.9 percent contraction in the industry sector, caused by the 14.7 percent contraction in the construction sub sector.

"Preliminary data collected by NEDA showed that while the volume of construction projects increased by 1 percent, total value decreased by 19.4 percent," Carreon noted.

He added new residential projects accounted for 77 percent of construction activities in 2015, however their value was less by 35 percent due to smaller magnitude of projects.

The NEDA official also cited that the 4.8 percent GRDP growth last year was faster than the average annual population growth rate of 1.76 percent from 2010-2015. (FREEMAN)