The regional economy in the first quarter of 2007: Positive signs

It was a good first three months of 2007 for Eastern Visayas. This followed the trend at the national level where a 6.9 percent growth was recorded in our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest first quarter growth in many years.
           
While the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) figure is not yet available (it will be available next year yet), we should be close to the 6.9 percent growth because of significant gains in palay, abaca fiber, sugarcane, corn and rootcrop production.
           
We also did well in the swine and fishery sectors.
           
Services continue to have a positive trend with increases in business name registration, housing construction, air transport passenger and cargo volumes as well as in land transport and sea transport.
           
These trends will spill over to the rest of the year, given that the second quarter is harvest season and there is usually an increase in consumption expenditures in the fourth quarter.
           
Also coming in as good news was a reduction in inflation from 5.0 percent in the preceding quarter to 3.4 percent.
           
The above data suggest that we were able to move forward in our agricultural production and in services, but we need to promote our industries even more.
           
We are still waiting for a surge in agri-business and tourism. There are facilities that are already or at least close to being “world class” such as those in Ormoc City and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, but we need to improve the packaging and marketing of these destinations to ensure an increase in tourist arrivals.
           
Both of these sectors could attract and absorb more investments given the comparative advantage of our region.

In sum, we can expect more positive signs in the coming months.