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Thursday, August 24, 2006
Cebu leads CV
By Rose O. Versoza
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Cebu continues to play an important role in the country’s development, making significant contributions in export, tourism, investments and revenue-generation.
Marlene CA Rodriguez, director of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7, said the economic growth of Central Visayas, the bulk of which comes from Cebu, is higher compared with that of the country.
But she also admitted that Cebu’s economic growth, which is placed at six percent, may “not yet be strong enough” for it to be felt by its constituents.
It needs to reach double-digit figures for people to feel the impact.
For now, Cebu’s economy is strong in employment generation.
Cebu’s total employment in 2005 reached 2.4 million. The national employment was placed at 32.9 million.
Bulk
Rodriguez discussed Cebu’s contributions to the national economy during the Sun.Star Economic Forum yesterday at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel in Lahug.
Last year, Central Visayas’ gross domestic product (GDP) grew by six percent while the country’s GDP rate was only five percent. The country’s economic growth target of 5.5 percent to 6.1 percent for 2006 is even lower than Region 7’s target of 5.9 percent to 6.4 percent.
Rodriguez said the region’s total domestic production reached P85.9 billion last year, which is around seven percent of the country’s total output.
“While Central Visayas is the fifth biggest contributor to the country’s total domestic production, the bulk of the economic activities in the region, specifically in industry and services, is concentrated in Cebu, notably Metro Cebu,” said Rodriguez.
She said Cebu accounts for 80 percent of all the industrial and services output in the region.
Cebu’s major manufacturing industries include shipbuilding, furniture, fashion accessories, gifts, toys and housewares, electronics and semi-conductors. Its service industries focus on shipping, airlines, commercial centers and business process outsourcing (BPO).
11%
Rodriguez said its export industry is one of Cebu’s economic strengths.
With its export earnings now accounting for 11.4 percent of the country’s total value of exports, Cebu is one of the leading exporters in the Philippines.
Citing data from the Department of Trade and Industry, Rodriguez said Cebu’s exports value for the first quarter this year already breached the $1-billion mark, which is 12.5 percent higher than the export value during the same period last year.
Exports value in Cebu increased from $4.15 billion in 2004 to $4.7 billion in 2005, or 13.5 percent.
The province’s top export products include electronics, industrial goods, furniture, garments, electrical equipment, vehicles, machine parts, processed foods, steel, metal, gifts, toys, housewares and fashion accessories.
Rodriguez said 50 percent of Cebu’s exports come from the economic zones, which also generate employment opportunities.
Cebu’s economic zones employed 78,098 workers in 2005, mostly coming from Mactan Export Zones 1 and 2.
Rodriguez also highlighted the importance of the shipbuilding industry in Balamban to Cebu’s economy.
Investment
As for investments, Cebu continues to be a predominant destination for direct foreign investments.
From 2001 to 2004, Cebu’s value of investment barely reached one percent of the country’s total value of BOI-registered investments.
But this significantly increased to 10.4 percent or P17.2 billion in 2005, mainly because of the power generation project of Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. worth P15.2 billion.
Revenue collections in Cebu are also high, contributing 16 percent of the entire country’s collections.
Cebu’s good performance in exports and investments is also complimented by its tourism growth, with the province now the top tourist destination outside of Luzon.
Citing records from the Department of Tourism, Rodriguez said tourist arrivals in Cebu exceeded one million in 2005, while Davao, Boracay, Batangas and Palawan each barely had 600,000 tourists during the same period.
Foreign tourist arrivals in Cebu had not gone lower than 15 percent, with Japanese and Korean nationals as the top travel markets of the province.
More than 28.5 percent of the foreign tourists in the country visited Cebu in 2005.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 24, 2006 issue)
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