By Lyka Manalo
STO.TOMAS, Batangas— The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region 4A has reported the economic growth of 6.7 percent in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region in 2017 which is the highest growth in the past four years.
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(Wikipedia/Manila Bulletin)
PSA Region 4A director Charito Armonia said Calabarzon with 1.9-percent increase compared to 2016, is one of the top contributing regions to the national economic growth second to National Capital Region (NCR) as she presented yesterday the 2017 report on the regional economy held at NDN Grand Hotel here.
In terms of Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), Calabarzon accounted the second highest share, NCR has the highest and Central Luzon ranked third to the total GDP, Armonia said.
In its growth rate, Calabarzon ranked 8th in 2017.
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has topped out of 17 regions, followed by Davao Region while Central Luzon ranked third.
While Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is predominantly agriculture in terms of the structure of regional economy, Calabarzon is one of the four regions that are predominantly industrial and the rest 12 regions are predominantly services-based.
The share of Industry to Calabarzon region’s economy remained the highest among the three major sectors, followed by Services; while the Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (AHFF) has recorded 0.6-percent decline in 2017 from the 3.4 percent growth in 2016.
“Industry contributed the biggest share driven by the faster growth in manufacturing and construction” Armonia said.
Meanwhile, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 4A director Luis Banua said the AHFF percentage contribution has lowered due to the effect brought by typhoon “Ramil,” climate change and the avian influenza virus plus the earthquake swarms.
Banua said there is a need of interventions with the Department of Agriculture (DA) to cope with the negative growth.
He said the agency is now pursuing the cooperatives as the main product supplier of the industries which is a big potential for cooperative members to earn more for them to feel the economic development.
He also encouraged farmers in a value-adding concept wherein multicropping can be applied to farm products with the intervention of different national agencies such as DA and Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
“For example, a farmer will earn P3,000 in copra but in coco-sugar they can earn as much as P28,000” Banua explained.