THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has requested the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to compute the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in Central Visayas with itemized accounts of provinces to determine their contribution to the economy.
The Neda 7 Regional Statistical Committee (RSC) under the Regional Development Council (RDC) met Tuesday to discuss the matter. Neda 7 Director Efren Carreon is the committee chairman, while newly-installed PSA 7 Director Ronald Taghap is the vice chairman.
The GRDP was tackled based on the clamor of the local government units (LGUs), national government agencies, the cooperatives under the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) and the business sector.
“The economic growth of Central Visayas composed of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor is higher than the economic growth of the entire country. But several sectors are clamoring for the breakdown of GRDP to see how much is the respective contribution of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor,” Carreon said.
“If we say Central Visayas economic growth, this must be followed with details on how much are the inputs of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor,” Carreon said.
Negros Oriental used to be under Central Visayas but it became part of the Negros Island Region (NIR) last November 2015.
The GRDP breakdown can be made as basis for LGUs, business firms and regional offices in making decisions.
Proposal
“We made a proposal to be submitted to the PSA central office, including the budget. PSA will provide the budget but eventually Neda will also consider if there’s a need to put up some counterpart funds,” Carreon said.
In connection with the high economic growth in Central Visayas, Carreon said economic leaders in both government and private sectors know that Cebu is the highest and biggest contributor.
“But as to what extent, we have no solid data to back up that claim. So, there must be a breakdown on GRDP with itemized accounts of provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor,” Carreon said.
He added that at present, they are discussing the data requirements for the estimation of GRDP for Central Visayas for the year 2015.
He said the PSA will consolidate the data used as basis to compute the GRDP 2015, which they will reveal in July this year.