ILOILO CITY—Super Typhoon “Yolanda” and delayed onset of rainfall significantly slowed down the economic growth of Western Visayas last year, according to a government economic report released on July 31.
The Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth of Western Visayas, which was among the fastest in recent years, dropped from 7.7 percent in 2012 to 4.1 percent in 2013, according to the regional economic performance report.
The GRDP is the total goods and services produced in a region in a year and serves as a main economic performance indicator.
Nelida Losare, officer in charge of the regional office of the Philippine Statistics Authority, said the region’s economy, especially agriculture, slowed down due to drop in production.
The slump in the agriculture sector, which also experienced a decline in 2012, worsened last year from a negative growth of 0.1 percent to negative 3.3 percent.
The contraction is attributed to a drop in production due to the prolonged dry season last year. The decline is also attributed in part to the reduction of croplands as agricultural lands are being converted to subdivisions and other real estate development.
The slump in agriculture, which accounts for 23.5 percent of the regional economy, also worsened due to the devastation of the super typhoon that struck on Nov. 8 last year.
The disaster severely affected many areas in the region especially Capiz, Aklan and the northern areas of Iloilo, Antique and Negros Occidental.
Among the worst hit were the fishing and poultry sectors as many fishing boats and gears, fishponds and livestock were lost or destroyed.
Fishing worsened its decline from a negative growth of 2.6 percent in 2012 to negative 4 percent last year.
Declines were also reported in the service and industry sectors, mainly attributed to the effects of the super typhoon.
Services, which comprises the largest share in the regional economy at 57.9 percent, slowed down from a growth rate of 7.7 percent in 2012 to 5.7 last year.
Some of the region’s key economic drivers, however, expanded like financial intermediation, which includes banking and finance growing from a 9.2-percent growth rate in 2012 to 14.4 percent last year.
The growth rate of other sectors including tourism more than doubled from 4.6 percent in 2012 to 9.5 percent in 2013.
The region’s booming real estate industry registered a growth rate of 20 percent last year but this was offset by a decline in ownership of dwellings after about 230,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by the super typhoon.
The region was the fifth biggest contributor to the national economy despite the significant economic slowdown. The top contributor remains the National Capital Region with a 36.3 percent share followed by Calabarzon (17.4 percent), Central Luzon (9 percent), Central Visayas (6.3 percent) and Western Visayas (4 percent).