Vol. XXII, No. 3 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY of MIMAROPA (Marinduque-Occidental Mindoro-Oriental Mindoro-Romblon-Palawan) grew 9.4% last year, topping the other 16 regions of the country, a statement yesterday of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) read.
MIMAROPA’s growth in 2007 was a big improvement from its modest 1.6% performance in 2006, driven by hefty gains in the industry sector which accounted for 41.4% of the region’s output.
Other fast-growing regional economies included Central Visayas with 8.7% growth, Caraga with 8.6%, Northern Mindanao with 7.9%, and the National Capital Region (NCR) with 7.8%.
On the other hand, Eastern Visayas posted the slowest growth at 3.2%.
Fourteen out of the country’s 17 regions registered accelerated growths in 2007, with MIMAROPA also posting the biggest jump in growth with 7.8 percentage points.
It was followed by Zamboanga Peninsula (5.3 percentage points), Bicol (5.1%), Central Visayas (3.9%), and the Cordillera Administrative Region (3.6%).
Growths in the economies of three regions decelerated, with Eastern Visayas recording the biggest drop at 2.0 percentage points.
NCR remained as the biggest contributor to the country’s economy with a 32.6% share, followed by CALABARZON (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) with 12.1% and Central Luzon with 8.3%.
NCR likewise had the biggest share to the growth of the country’s GDP at 2.5 percentage points, followed by CALABARZON with 0.7 percentage point and Central and Western Visayas, each with a 0.6 percentage-point contribution.
The three Visayas regions collectively grew by 7.6%, a 2.6 percentage-point acceleration from the 2006 performance.
Their share to the total gross domestic product (GDP) was maintained at 16.5%, while their contribution to growth increased from 0.8 percentage point to 1.2 percentage points.
The Mindanao island group, composed of six regions, had an aggregate growth of 7.2%, an improvement from the 5.2% expansion in 2006. Its contribution to the country’s GDP growth increased from 0.9 to 1.3 percentage points while maintaining its 17.7% share to total GDP.
On the other hand, the Luzon island group, composed of seven regions (excluding NCR), aggregately grew by 6.4%, accounting for 2.1 percentage points of total GDP growth. Its share to the total domestic economy, however, decreased slightly from 33.4% in 2006 to 33.2% in 2007.
Per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) was highest in NCR at P40,252, an increase of 6.3% from the 2006 level. It was followed by Cordillera with P19,120 and Northern Mindanao with P16,537.
Per capita GRDP was lowest in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at P3,582.
MIMAROPA, Central Visayas, and Caraga, the three fastest growing regions in 2007, also registered the best improvements in per capita GRDP, posting a uniform growth of 6.6%.
The GRDP measures the goods and services produced in each of the geopolitical regions of the country.
It provides basis for analysis of the regional distribution of the country’s gross domestic product, the industries and factors that contribute to the regional economies, and the pace at which these economies are moving.
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