CEBU CITY, April 6 (PNA) — Central Visayas is poised to post eight to nine percent gross regional domestic product (GRDP) for 2014, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Region 7 said.
NEDA 7 Director Efren Carreon said he is optimistic the region can hit the eight to nine percent target.
But he said the performance is seen to lean toward the low side of eight percent because of the agriculture sector’s poor performance and the reverberating effects of the earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda in 2013, with rehabilitation efforts in some areas still unfinished.
“Eight percent is still a good growth. In fact, this is higher than the national growth rate,” Carreon said.
In 2014, the country registered a 6.1 percent growth in GDP.
The official said GRDP for Central Visayas is expected to come out on July.
Carreon said the projection is based on initial data from various sectors, which exhibited double digit growth in 2014, except for agriculture.
NEDA said agriculture could pull down the region’s overall performance.
Banking, construction, foreign trade, tourism, and information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) soared last year.
Agriculture, which covers crops, fisheries, livestock, and poultry, dropped by 3.02 percent in terms of total production.
The banking industry registered the highest growth, ranging from six to 60 percent.
Banking offices in Region 7 grew from 594 in June 2013 to 636 in June 2014, registering an increase of 7.07 percent.
Total deposit grew by 29.44 percent, which is equivalent to P396 million from P306 million in the same period a year before.
Savings deposit grew by 14.67 percent or P153 million, while time deposits jumped by 58.7 percent at P90.4 million and foreign currency deposit units (FCDU) sprang up to 16.8 percent at P48.3 million.
While the banking industry soared, agriculture plummeted across all segments, except for livestock.
Crop production dropped by 2.6 percent, fisheries dropped by 13.9 percent, and poultry dropped by 1.03 percent. Livestock, meanwhile, increased by 0.15 percent.
NEDA 7 said the National Statistics Office recorded 12,386 new construction projects, covering both residential and non-residential, in 2014, which is 27 percent higher than the total number of new projects constructed in 2013.
Last year’s construction projects were worth P22.62 billion, which is 43 percent higher than in 2013. (PNA)