Region XI’s economic growth falters in 2001
By Rose Palacio
Davao City (18 January) -- Southern Mindanao’s economic growth slowed down to 2.1 percent in 2001, falling from 4.6 percent of the previous year.
The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSDB) said the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) weakened in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry (AFF) and services sectors.
In a factsheet, it said AFF which accounted for 35.3 percent of the total output grew by only 0.8 percent in 2001 compared to 5.9 percent in 2000.
The slowdown in AFF was due to the increased production of all major crops except bananas, NSCB said.
NSCB said flashfloods in Davao del Norte during the first quarter of 2001 affected palay production while lack of rain in South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos (SOCSARGEN) and Davao del Sur areas during the second and fourth quarters affected corn production.
Services sector also went down to almost half of its performance in 2000. It grew by only 2.9 percent in 2001. NSCB attributed this to decreased trading activities from 6.4 percent to 3.7 in 2001.
In the services sector, only transportation, communication and storage (TCS) showed a 7.7 percent increase in 2001 from 6.9 percent in 2000.
Cargo services, both by water and air transportation, and the continuing expansion of the telecommunication industry provided strength for the service sector.
The growth in the food processing industry bolstered the manufacturing sector which accounted for 17.2 percent of the region’s economy. It pushed the sector’s performance to 3.2 percent from 1.9 percent.
Construction industry continued its 0.9 percent decline (in 2001), brought about by the decrease in building construction, negative slippage of some flagship projects and the suspension of other nationally-funded infrastructure projects, NSCB said. (NSCB/PIA-RP) [top]
