CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- Central Luzon’s economy grew 9.3 percent in 2017, slightly lower than the 9.5 percent in 2016, the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) office in the region reported Thursday.
Lianelle Tandoc, NEDA 3 (Central Luzon) officer-in-charge and chief of the Policy Formulation and Planning Division, said that despite the slower performance of the region’s economy last year, Central Luzon remained the third fastest growing economy in the country with a 0.9 percentage point contribution to the country’s 6.7 percent growth in 2017.
“Considering that Central Luzon’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) rate is 9.3 percent in 2017, we are still above the national figure of 6.7 percent. It means that the region’s stable performance was achieved on the average since 2011 to 2016,” Tandoc said during a news conference on the 2017 Report on the Regional Economy of Central Luzon held Thursday.
She also said Central Luzon’s economy remains vibrant as the region is 3 percent higher than their target gross domestic product (GDP) share.
“Actually, we are higher than our target share of 6.9 percent in Central Luzon regional development plan from 2017 to 2022. Our risks that affect the economy are calamities, natural hazards, unavoidable political uncertainties and peace and order,” she added.
Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, industry continued to account for the largest share of the region’s economy with 48.3 percent in 2017, higher than its 46.3 share in the previous year.
Meanwhile, services and agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing accounted for 37.4 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively.
Among the major economic sectors, industry decelerated to 13.9 percent from the previous year’s 15.8 percent growth.
Manufacturing, the largest subsector in the region, grew at a slower rate of 13.2 percent from the previous year’s 17.5 percent.
Construction surged from 2.9 percent in 2016 to 22.3 percent in 2017, while electricity, gas and water supply slowed down to 8.5 percent from its 25.4 percent growth in 2016.
Mining and quarrying contracted by 26.1 percent in 2017, a reversal from its 20.4 percent growth in 2016.
Services slid to 5.8 percent from 6.1 percent in 2016, as most of its subsectors slowed down in 2017, except for real estate, renting and business activities and public administration and defense; compulsory social security.
In 2017, real estate, renting and business activities expanded from 5.6 percent to 7.5 percent and public administration and defense from 5.7 percent to 6.4 percent.
The slow growth in the service sector was due to the deceleration of the following subsectors -- transportation, storage and communication at 3.9 percent from 5 percent; trade and repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles, personal and household goods at 4.8 percent from 5.8 percent; financial intermediation at 6 percent from 6.7 percent; and other services at 7.7 percent from 8.2 percent.
Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing in the region expanded to 3.9 percent in 2017 from the previous year’s 0.7 percent growth.
Likewise, agriculture and forestry accelerated to 4.1 percent, higher by 3.2 percentage points than its 0.9 percent growth in 2016.
Fishing also rebounded from a decline of 0.4 percent in 2016 to 2.9 percent in 2017.
The industry contributed most to the region’s overall growth rate with 6.4 percentage points followed by services with 2.3 percentage points and agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing at 0.6 percentage point. (PNA)
