CEBU, Philippines - Central Visayas is likely to achieve 6.7% – 7% Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) for 2012, owing to the good preliminary indicators that pulled up the economic growth of the region last year.
This projection was made by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) assistant regional director Efren Carreon, even as the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) is yet to release its 2012 economic report for the country in the next few months.
Carreon is confident that the region will again surpass the national level which is 6.6 percent average GDP.
In fact the projection is still conservative, considering that the election season this first semester is expected to bring in “artificial” GDP growth for the country.
Consistently, Central Visayas has always been the top performer in terms of economic growth for years. In 2010, the region hit a record high GRDP record of 12.5 percent. In 2011, the region recorded 7.9 percent growth.
“Most likely, Central Visayas will again overshoot the national GDP in terms of growth in 2012. It has been a trend that the region surpasses the national average,” Carreon said.
Cebu’s dynamic economy, amid the fragile financial state of dominant economies such as United States, and Europe, is primarily run by industry and services sector.
Latest NEDA-7 record shows that services contributed 56 percent to the GRDP of Central Visayas, while industry contribution is at 36 percent, followed by agriculture with eight percent.
Industry sector includes; mining/quarry, manufacturing, construction, electricity, gas, and water supply. Services on the other hand, are those businesses that handle the transport, communication, storage, trade and tourism.
As of 2011, the services sector contributed P336 billion to the region’s GRDP, while industry with 36 percent translated to P214 billion in total revenue contribution.
Total GRDP for the region in 2011 recorded at P602 billion. With the target of hitting 6.5 to seven percent growth in 2012, the regions expects to generate a total of P641 billion (current) income for the year. This is the region’s contribution to the total GDP (translated to revenue) of the country.
This year, NEDA-7 projected a growth of 6.7 percent to 7.3 percent in GRDP, that will provide an estimate of P684 billion in revenue.
In the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)alone, the region got a total of 17 new foreign investors last year, that makes it a total of over 90 thousand workers employed in the outsourcing sector.
Based on the average minimum monthly salary of P20 thousand per employee, the money that will out in the circulation every month, largely from Cebu will be at least P1 billion.
He said even if most workers of the BPO are in Cebu, the money will be circulated in the neighboring provinces, as employees send chunk of their monthly income to their home provinces.
In 2010 to 2011, the BPO, real estate, renting and related activities are the top performance with 10.9 percent growth.
Carreon also sees Cebu’s re-entry into the manufacturing sector, saying most locators from China are now eyeing the Philippines as their top choice for expansion site, and that Cebu and Central Visayas region is one of the favorite investment destinations.
This would mean, that employment rate is seen to soar in the short term, providing working opportunities even for the under-grad or those that do not have enough qualifications to enter the BPO sector, and other employment generating industries.
In 2011, NEDA-7 record further showed that BPO and construction grew by 21.5 percent followed by real estate and renting services. (FREEMAN)
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