Central Visayas registers growth amid calamities

Despite the devastation caused by the Oct.15 earthquake and supertyphoon “Yolanda”, Central Visayas will end 2013 with a 7.5 to 10 percent growth rate.

Asst. Regional Director Efren Carreon of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) said tourism and agriculture bore the brunt of the two calamities that hit the region late this year.

“All other industries like the outsourcing, retail, construction and transportation are expected to still perform well hence we expect still a high GRDP rate this year,” Carreon said.

Before the two calamities hit, Carreon said there was 14.8 growth rate in tourism with 1.72 million tourist arrivals as of June.

“Domestic flights grew by 3.2 percent while international flights grew by 18.2 percent from only 4,807 flights in the same period last year to 5,684 this year,” he said.

Revenues

The shipping industry likewise registered 91,241 ship calls as of June this year, a 13.8 percent growth from last year. The number of passengers also went up by 6.5 percent.

As of September this year, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector already recorded a revenue of $435.4 million, which is 84 percent of the total revenues earned in 2012 at $516.8 million.

“We expect revenues to surpass last year’s level and it could reach over $600 million this year. Employment in the industry also continued to expand with at least 100,000 now working in the companies under this industry,” Carreon said.

Construction activities continued to grow especially for residential projects with 4,891 new construction projects approved as of first half this year that’s valued at P7.83 billion.

“Majority or about 85 percent of these are residential projects including condominiums and subdivisions. 11 out of 13 projects registered under BOI (Board of Investments) in that period were for mass housing projects with an estimated project cost of P3.22 billion.”

Unemployment

Carreon said the agriculture industry continued to shrink, going down 36 percent as of the first half this year or lower than last year’s 15 percent.

“We expect the numbers to go higher with the devastation of Yolanda in the northern towns of Cebu affecting specifically our poultry farms in the area,” Carreon said.

The region’s unemployment rate likewise went up by one point from 6.4 percent in April this year.

Carreon said the migration of people from Tacloban and other typhoon hard-hit areas may also affect unemployment rates.

Inflation rate was high at 4.8 percent as of October this year with Cebu registering the highest inflation rate of 5.9 percent.

“We also expect inflation to go higher especially on construction materials with the rebuilding stage now starting. This is driven by the high demand of a certain commodity,” Carreon said.