Cagayan Valley’s Economy Grows Faster at 7.2% in 2017

Cagayan Valley’s economy grew faster at 7.2 percent in 2017 compared to 3.8 percent in 2016, hitting a record higher than the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 6.7 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported recently.

During the nationwide simultaneous conduct of the 2017 Report on the Regional Economy nationwide, PSA regional Director Marilyn T. Estrada said the uptick was brought by the recovery in Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (AHFF), particularly the Agriculture sub-industry and faster growth of industry due to the acceleration in electricity, gas and water supply and land mining and quarrying.

Estrada, however, said that the figures also showed that under the fishing industry, a stagnant 1 percent was recorded in both 2016 and 2017.

“On other services, 73 percent is attributed to sewage, recreation and other service activities,” she said.

As to per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) at constant 2000 Prices, Region 2 recorded an increase of 5.7 percent from 39,344 in 2016, Estrada added.

“Region 2 ranked number seven (7) with the highest GRDP nationwide and one among the 12 regions that are predominantly services-based,” the regional director said.

Meanwhile, Engr. Ronilo Bulseco of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that with the region’s impressive growth of 7.2 percent, the figure indicates that the region’s efforts have been paid off and sets a strong foundation for the start of our plan for 2017-2022.

“We aim to lay down the foundations for inclusive growth, a high trust and resilient society and a globally competitive knowledge in the next six years as well as realizing our regional vision to be the ‘Prime Water Resource, Agro-Industrial Hub and Emerging Tourist Destination’ in the country,” Bulseco said.

For the Industry and Services sectors, he said that collaborative efforts should be focused on the strengthening of value and supply chain linkages through continuous research and development of new approaches and technologies in order to improve efficiency; implementation and development of existing and new industry road maps, respectively, to maximize the gains of the region’s comparative advantage; intensification of efforts in terms of tourism product development and promotions; and improvement of the sectors through as strong support system  such as provision of soft and hard infrastructure.

“Our challenge lies on the strengthening of our existing efforts and increasing and expanding the access of small farmers and fisherfolk to economic opportunities,” Bulseco said on the part of the Agriculture sector.

The NEDA official added that the region’s intervention on agriculture must be concentrated on the strengthening of the AHFF extension through the promotion and provision of modern and climate-resilient farm and fishery inputs; prioritization of investments on research and development, and the intensive application of mature technologies to improve farm productivity and resiliency; among others.

He also encouraged all State Universities and Colleges, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), private and government entities regionwide to continuously partner in the conduct of R&D activities, adoption, promotion and dissemination and commercialization of these new technologies, particularly farm and fishery inputs at the grassroot level. (ALM/MDCT/PIA-2)