By Sarwell Meniano
In Tacloban City, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the Eastern Visayas economy achieved a growth rate of 6.4 percent in 2023. Although slightly lower than the previous year’s performance, it maintained a steady growth level of 6 percent for three consecutive years. Last year’s growth was a decline from the 6.7 percent recorded in 2022 and the 6 percent in 2021, but it remained above the pre-pandemic level of 5.3 percent in 2019. During a press briefing at the Summit Hotel, PSA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Wilma Perante attributed the growth to the positive performance of the services and industry sectors.
The total value of goods and services in the region, as measured by the GRDP, increased to PHP523.56 billion in 2023 from PHP492.18 billion in 2022, resulting in PHP31.38 billion in economic gains,” Perante said.
The PSA said the services sector, which accounts for 47.7 percent of the regional economy, rose by 7.5 percent last year.
The industry sector, which contributes 40.4 percent to the regional economy, posted 5.8 percent growth in 2023, lower than the 7.2 percent growth recorded the previous year.
National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Eastern Visayas assistant regional director Jam Colas said the region’s 6.4 percent growth is the sixth fastest-growing regional economy nationwide.
“The region outpaced the national average growth of 5.5 percent. Likewise, this is the first time on record that Eastern Visayas has achieved three consecutive years of growth at 6 percent and above,” Colas told reporters.
Meanwhile, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) sector rebounded to 3.8 percent growth from a 6.2 percent decline in 2022. The AFF’s share of the GRDP is only 11.9 percent.
“While there is a significant increase, we are not satisfied since there are more things to be done for the sector. The increase is not enough. We must catch up since we are an agriculture region,” Department of Agriculture Eastern Visayas regional executive director Andrew Orais said.
GRDP measures the value of goods and services produced by a region. The figure for all regions sums up the gross domestic product of a country. (PNA)
