Central Visayas Economy Sees 7.6% Growth in 2022

The Philippine Statistics Authority 7 (PSA 7) announced on Thursday, April 27, that Central Visayas experienced continued growth in 2022.

“The economy of Central Visayas further expanded to 7.6% in 2022, from 5.4% growth in 2021. The growth in 2022 was valued at P1.29 trillion. This is about P91.35 billion higher than in 2021, valued at P1.20 trillion. The growth in 2020, on the other hand, was valued at P1.13 trillion,” PSA 7 director Ariel Florendo said.

Florendo also mentioned the major events in 2022 helped the economic growth in the region, such as the opening of the Philippine economy, implementation of full face-to-face classes in public schools, resumption of sports and other recreational events, and CCLEX going fully operational on April 2022 are among the factors for Central Visayas’ economic growth.

The major contributors to the growth of Central Visayas economy were the Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles with 1.7 percentage points, Transportation and storage with 1.0 percentage points, and Accommodation and food service activities with 0.9 percentage points.

PSA 7 also said that one of the main contributors to the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of Central Visayas was the Services Sector with 69.4% — the highest share for GRDP, followed by the Industry sector at 24.1%, and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AFF) sector with 6.5 percent.

All major expenditure items in 2022 yielded growth, with Export Goods and Services having the fastest growth with 14.7 percent. This is a recovery from a 1.5% drop in 2021.

Meanwhile, Imports Good and Services trail the latter with 13.2%.

In 2022, Central Visayas’ per capita GRDP increased to P158,010, while the per capita Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) was recorded at P113,889 in the same year. Meanwhile, the real per capita HFCE in the region is P12.8% lower than the national level of 130,590 pesos. (ASC)