Value of Northern Mindanao economy tops trillion-peso mark

Northern Mindanao. INQUIRER FILES

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The value of Northern Mindanao’s economy breached the trillion-peso mark in 2024, making the region among the key contributors to the country’s national production, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In an economic briefing on Tuesday, PSA Regional Director Janeth Aves said that the regional economy was already valued at P1.04 trillion, in constant 2018 prices, at the end of last year.

READ: Central Luzon Philippines’ top contributor to agriculture in 2024

This was 6-percent higher than that of 2023, or an increase of P59.33 billion in the value of production.

The growth rate in 2024 hits the low-end target of regional economic expansion, according to Richardson Cua, OIC regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

After contracting by 5.3 percent in 2020, the regional economy sharply rebounded in 2021, growing at 6.3 percent, followed by a 7.2-percent expansion in 2022, and 5.2-percent growth in 2023.

At 6-percent growth, Northern Mindanao is among the seven regional economies of the country whose expansion was faster than the national average of 5.7 percent in 2024.

Given the size of its economy in 2024, the region contributed 4.7 percent to national economic output, and 0.3 percentage points to the 5.7-percent national growth rate.

Construction growth

The growth of the regional economy in 2024 was driven by the expansion of industry, which grew at 7.5 percent. Under industry, construction had the fastest expansion at 11.5 percent, followed by mining at 7.6 percent.

Services had a strong performance in 2024, growing at 7.4 percent, driven by, among others, tourism.

Despite its strong potential, the region’s agriculture sector expanded by a measly 0.1 percent.

“We have to really catch up with our agricultural productivity,” said Ma. Estrella Luz Peñalosa, an economic development specialist at Neda.

In terms of contribution to total economic production, services account for 56.5 percent, industry 25.6 percent, and agriculture 17.9 percent.

With sustained growth, the region’s per capita gross regional domestic product stood at P200,236 in 2024, a growth of 5.1 percent from the previous year, and the third highest in the country.

This indicated “a stronger expansion of economic productivity relative to the region’s population size,” Aves said.