LOCAL ECONOMY. Graphics show the share of six provinces and one highly urbanized city to the regional economy. The Philippine Statistics Authority has started releasing data on economic performance of provinces in Eastern Visayas as one of the pilot regions in coming up with Provincial Product Accounts for the benchmark year 2018 and years 2019 to 2021. (Photo courtesy of PSA Leyte)
TACLOBAN CITY – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has started releasing data on economic performance of provinces in Eastern Visayas as one of the pilot regions in coming up with Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) for the benchmark year 2018 and years 2019 to 2021.
PSA Eastern Visayas regional director Wilma Perante said this is the first time for the region to disseminate such data traditionally released in the national and regional levels.
“The PPA initiative enables the compilation of gross domestic product of the provinces and highly urbanized cities. Consistent with the GDP at the national and regional level, the PPA has long been demanded by the planners and policy makers to provide a suitable measure of economic performance at the subregional level and as a source of indicators to monitor the economic development or progress at the local level,” Perante said.
On Dec. 12, the PSA regional office released the PPA for Leyte and Tacloban City.
PSA said Leyte’s economy rebounds by 7 percent, contributing more than half to the regional economy in 2021 while Tacloban posted 6.6 percent economic growth in the same year.
Within the week, PSA has scheduled data PPA dissemination in the provinces of Biliran, Southern Leyte, Samar, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar.
“The provincial accounts will provide our stakeholders in the government and private institutions as well as those in the academe with sound indicators for evidence-based policies at the local level,” Perante added.
In December 2021, the PSA released the PPA data for the first time nationwide. The 2018 to 2020 PPA results covered the provinces and HUCs of the three pilot regions -- Mimaropa, Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao.
This year, six other regions are set to release their PPA for the first time covering the period 2018 to 2021. These are the Cordillera Administrative Region, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Davao Region and Soccsksargen.
By 2025, the PSA will institutionalize the PPA in all provinces and HUCs of the 17 regions in the country. (PNA)
