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Monday, December 05, 2005
C. Mindanao economy in bad shape for 1st half of 2005
CENTRAL Mindanao experienced a retarded economic growth for the first six months of this year, an economic situationer released recently by the regional office of the National Economic and Development Authority revealed.
"The setback in the first semester was largely brought by the widespread effect of the dry spell and the increase in prices of basic goods and services," said Ma. Lourdes Lim, National Economic and Development Authority regional director.
The dry spell affected the region's palay production by 5.5 percent and corn by 25.3 percent during the period, which also saw the area planted to palay reduced by 10.15 percent and corn by 44.4 percent.
Palay harvest in the first semester of last year was placed at 421,163 metric tons while corn was at 293,134 metric tons, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistic showed.
Total harvested palay area for the 1st half of 2004 was 129,824 hectares and 133,853 hectares for corn, it added.
The poor economic performance of the region was also blamed to the decrease in fishery production.
Total fish production declined by 16 percent while commercial fish catch went down by at least 23 percent due to high prices of petroleum products.
According to the regional economic situationer, total fish production from January to June totaled 107,074 metric tons, about 16 percent lower than last year's record of 124,482 metric tons.
For the same period, inflation rate in the region grew by 2.9 percentage points to 7.8 percent, up from last year's 4.9 percent.
Lim attributed the increase in inflation to the hike in prices of electricity, fuel, transportation and communication services.
"This brought loss in the purchasing power of consumers," she stressed.
Investments likewise dropped, according to government data.
Some P1.205 billion have been generated for the first semester but is around 66 percent lower than the total investments earned during the same period last year, which amounted to P3.581 billion.
Of the total investments generated in the first semester of 2005, Sultan Kudarat cornered the lion's share of 54 percent; 13 percent in North Cotabato; 9 percent in Kidapawan City and 8 percent in Cotabato City.
(December 5, 2005 issue)
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