The Zamboanga Peninsula’s economy registered a decelerated growth of 2.2 percent in 2008 from 7.2 percent in 2007.  This was largely due to the substantial slowdown of AFF.

AFF, accounting for 48.7 percent of the region’s total output, barely managed to stay afloat with a 1.0 percent growth compared to a 7.3 percent growth recorded in the previous year. The dismal performance of the sector was largely due to the slump in the production of palay, corn, coconut and livestock, the major contributors to AFF.

The service sector, which comprised 34.4 percent of the regional economy, posted a slower growth at 3.2 percent in 2008 from 5.0 percent in 2007. The weak performance of the sector was due to the decline in the TCS, from 8.7 percent in 2007 to 7.0 percent in 2008; and, private services, from 1.6 percent in 2007 to 0.6 percent in 2008. Likewise, trade slowed down from 6.2 percent in 2007 to 1.0 percent in 2008. On the other hand, finance, ODRE and government services showed improved performances with a 2.8 percent, 2.0 percent and 6.8 percent growths in 2008 from 2.0 percent, 0.8 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, in 2007.

The industry sector, which contributed 16.9 percent to the region’s output, posted a decelerated growth of 3.5 percent in 2008 from 12.0 percent in 2007. All its subsectors slowed down in 2008. Mining and quarrying contracted to a negative 31.6 percent in 2008 from 0.7 percent in 2007 due to the decline in gold and silver production. Construction grew at a slower pace at 10.2 percent in 2008 from 25.6 percent in 2007. Manufacturing likewise decelerated from 9.0 percent in 2007 to 4.3 percent in 2008 and electricity and water slowed down to 2.8 percent in 2008 from 3.4 percent in 2007.

The service sector contributed 1.1 percentage points to Zamboanga Peninsula’s overall growth, industry put in 0.6 percentage point while the AFF added 0.5 percentage point.