CENTRAL Visayas remained resilient, in spite of the high inflation during the later part of the year, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 reported.
Efren Carreon, Neda 7 director, said investments continued to drive the economic environment.
“We’re lucky that our region has diversified businesses. So if one sector goes down, other sectors will compensate,” he said.
Carreon said the diverse economic resources in Central Visayas mirrored what was happening in the national level, especially when the inflation rate was high.
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices of goods and services is rising.
Central Visayas suffered a high inflation of 7.0 percent in September, which slowed down to 6.0 in November.
Carreon noted that businesses continue to flourish, construction of infrastructure developments--both in the government and private sector--is in full swing, while people still flock to malls and restaurants.
Tourism, construction, information technology (IT) and manufacturing industries were the region’s major economic drivers for the year.
“With the opening of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 and the Bohol-Panglao International Airport, plus the thrust of the agencies towards tourism, it led to more tourist arrivals, which meant more income. Construction is also performing well, and so is IT, which is attractive to potential employees,” he said.
Carreon said the low performer for this year is the agri-fishery sector, whose growth was hindered by climate conditions.
Carreon added that with the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law, the personal income taxes of salary earners was lowered, which increased their capacity to buy goods.
He said the Train Law helped the working class with their spending activities, especially when the prices of rice, a staple in every Filipino’s diet, increased.
With this, Carreon said that they are also waiting for President Rodrigo Duterte to sign the Rice Tariffication Law that is expected to temper inflation and improve the performance of the agricultural sector.
The bill will impose a 35-percent duty on rice imports from Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states while a 50-percent rate will apply to imports from non-members of the regional bloc.
It also seeks a P10-billion appropriation for the rice fund annually that will be poured into the agricultural sector through farming innovations to ensure rice production competitiveness.
Excise taxes were also implemented on fuel products, providing more revenues for the government to fund the Build, Build, Build program of the administration. (JOB)