MAS MALAKAS NA EKONOMIYA DAHIL SA MINING: Industry sector boasts 41.6% share of Eastern Visayas’ 2018 growth

Boosted by mining and quarrying, the industrial sector of Eastern Visayas accounted for 41.6 percent of the region’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP).

The said economic share of the region’s industrial sector showed a 3.5 percent growth compared to 2017 where it declined 1.8 percent.

An impressive 84.7 percent growth of the mining and quarrying industry in Eastern Visayas led to the recovery of the industrial sector in the region in 2018.

Despite amounting to just 15.1 of employed Eastern Visayans, output from the industrial sector is about eight times more than those employed in other industries such as farming and fishing-related business ventures, and service providers.

These data were presented Thursday, April 25 by Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) Regional Director Wilma Perante alongside Eastern Visayas’ GRDP increase of 5.9 percent last 2018, a tad higher than the 1.7 percent recorded in 2017.

Aside from the industry sector, accelerated performance in the region’s service sector also attributed to its economic growth. Having around 53 percent of Eastern Visayas’ labor force, the service sector registered to 44.4 percent of the regional economy.

Meanwhile, after growing 0.1 percent in 2017, the sector of agriculture, hunting, forestry, and fishing went down by 0.5 percent in 2018 contributing 14 percent to the regional economy.

“Agriculture and forestry slowed down to 1.1 percent from the 2.8 percent growth in 2017. Fishing continued to decline by 7.4 percent, although at a slower rate than the 10.1 percent contraction in 2017,” Perante said in a Philippine News Agency report.

Although still considered third lowest in the country and is way below the national average of P 86,370, the region’s per capita GRDP went up to P 38,598 in 2018 from P 37,121 in 2017.