DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 14 December) – The Davao region and the rest of Mindanao will continue to enjoy high growth next year, John Carlo Tria, incoming President of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) said.
Tria told MindaNews on Saturday that he sees no end to the strong economic performance of the city and that of other local economies of Mindanao, which he expects to continue attracting more investors for next year.
“I think growth will remain strong and new investments in the city, the region and the island will start coming on line and high investor interest will continue,” he added.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that Davao Region grew by 8.6% in 2018, down from 10.7% in 2017.
The region’s economic output emerged as the second strongest among the country’s 17 regions after Bicol Region’s output of 8.9%, but the strongest in Mindanao.
The Services contributed 49.3%, Industry at 40.1%, and Agriculture at 10.6%. Under this Services sector, the Trade and Repair of Motor Vehicles, Motorcycles, Personal and Household Goods sub-sector grew 7.4%, slowing down from 8.7% to 2017; Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities from 6.7% to 6.4%; Transport, Storage, and Communication rose to 8.1% in 2018 from 7.2% in 2017; Financial Intermediation increased to 10.4% in 2018 from 6.2% in 2017; public administration and defense/ compulsory social security nearly doubled from 6.5% in 2017 to 12.9% in 2018, and other services rose to 8.3% from 3.8% in 2017.
Tria believes 2020 will continue to be good year for Davao and Mindanao.
The overall regional performance of Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (AHFF) sector last year registered a positive growth of 2.9% from 1.7% in 2017, owing to the 3.5% growth in the Agriculture and Fishery sub-sector.
However, the output of the AHFF sub-sector would have been bigger if it had not been pulled down by the decline in the output of the fishery sector to -7% in 2018 from -3.5% in 2017.
The Industry sector also decelerated to 10.9% last year from 19% in 2017. Among its four sub-sectors, only the growth registered in Electricity, Gas, and Water Supply of 18.1% had surpassed the 2017 growth of 3.8%. The Construction’s growth decelerated from 37.9% in 2017 to 18.1% in 2018; Mining and Quarrying from 18.2% to 8.3%; and Manufacturing from 11.4% to 6.4%. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
