NEDA-7 outlines economic plan’s thrust

The National Economic Development Authority in Central Visayas (Neda-7) is focusing on “inclusive” growth capitalizing on human capital as its main driver in its priority and development plan for the year.

Acting Regional Director Efren Carreon of Neda-7 said they focused on this area after seeing an increase in the underemployment rate in the region despite the increase in investments and employment opportunities in the first semester of the year.

Carreon said “inclusive” growth in the plan would put emphasis on economic development and social inclusion—two areas which underscore the importance of high and sustainable growth going hand in hand with having equal access to the development opportunities to people.

The region still needed to work on the underemployment rate, which increased at 18.8 percent or about 550,000 people who weren’t satisfied with their current jobs or who’re overqualified for their jobs, said Carreon during the Philippine Economic Briefing held Friday last week at the Radisson Blu Hotel. The activity was attended by industry stakeholders in Cebu.

The goals of Neda-7 under its economic development and priority plan include strengthening and harnessing science and technology and research and development, harnessing remittances for micro-financing, and strengthening job matching to ensure that businesses locate the right skills at the right time.

Neda-7 also plans to implement the goals under the plan’s social inclusion area which include increasing local government spending on social services,  ensuring compliance with social legislation that provide social insurance and protection to workers, and encourage LGUs to increase investments in social protection to complement the investment provided by the national government.

Carreon said the economy of Central Visayas, however, performed well this year as many major industries grew except for some sectors that still suffered from the economic turmoil in its major markets—the United States and Europe.

Carreon also cited the increase in investments in the first semester registering P6.3 billion which is a P5.2 billion increase from last year’s P1.1 billion.

The increase in investments also resulted to more employment opportunities by slicing the unemployment rate by 6.3 percent or resulting to employment for 190,000 people.

These investments came from growth areas like Information Communication Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, tourism and real estate, which offset the decline in export sector which registered an 18.7 percent decrease.

“The value of importation also weakened to only $465,783.70, only half of the value last year. This is because of the slowdown in production by our exporters who also uses imported materials to convert their products into high value products,” Carreon said.

Tourism, however, continues to be the main economic driver of Central Visayas.

Carreon said the tourism industry in the region registered a 14.9 percent increase in the first semester of the year or an increase of 480,000 more arrivals.

“Air transport benefited with domestic arrivals increase by 16.1 percent while foreign arrivals increased by 25.3 percent,” Carreon said.