PR-200807-R08-03
PRESS RELEASE
29 July 2008

Eastern Visayas’ economy grew at a slower pace of 3.2 percent in 2007, from 5.2 percent the previous year.  The slowdown was brought about by the poor performance of the industry sector, cushioned by the good performance of the Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry (AFF) and the Services sectors.

The AFF sector continued to grow, however, at a slower rate of 5.1 percent in 2007, from 5.3 percent in 2006.  The growth can be attributed to the significant increase in palay production due to favorable weather condition, wider use of hybrid and certified seeds, and the adoption of the palayamanan scheme.  Fish production, particularly aquaculture, also surged due to the expansion of mariculture areas regionwide.  AFF accounted for 33.9 percent of the regional economy.     

Services sector, which contributed the largest share of 36.5 percent to the regional economy, posted an accelerated growth of 5.5 percent in 2007, from 3.1 percent in 2006.  The performance of all its subsectors improved, except for Occupied Dwellings and Real Estate (ODRE).  The biggest contribution came from Trade, which posted a robust growth of 9.8 percent in 2007, from 4.3 percent in 2006.  The proliferation of Taiwanese and Korean wholesale and retail establishments is evident in the different capital towns of the region.  Private Services (PS) and Transport, Communication and Storage (TCS) also contributed substantially to the good performance of the sector with remarkable growths of 7.7 and 7.2 percent, respectively.  New medical services such as chemotherapy and more medical equipments catering hemodialysis are already available in big hospitals in the region.

The Industry sector, which comprised 29.6 percent of the region’s total output, made a reversal from a remarkable 7.6 percent growth in 2006 to a negative 1.6 percent growth in 2007.  This was brought about by the big drop in the Manufacturing subsector, from an 8.5 percent growth in 2006 to a negative 9.7 percent in 2007.  Production of basic metals, which shared the bulk of total manufacturing, dropped tremendously.  The exportation of metal products was moderated due to the appreciation of the peso. On the other hand, Construction sector surged from 9.1 percent in 2006 to 23.8 percent in 2007.  The construction and repair of national roads, bridges and ports in different parts of the region and other local government construction projects contributed to this robust growth.  

EVANGELINE M. PARAN (Sgd.)
Regional Head