by Michael Vincent D. Cajulao
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Despite the 23-day MNLF siege last year, Region 9’s economy still grew by 4.3 percent, National Statistical Coordination Board-9 (NSCB) Regional Director MewchunPamaran said in a press conference recently.
DirectorPamaran, however, said the growth pace last year was way down below the 12.9 percent growth rate in 2012’s, putting the region as the country’s fastest growing economy that year.
“The deceleration in the region’s economic performance was due to the 2013 MNLF siege in Zamboanga City. Zamboanga City contributes about 50 percent of the total regional economy,”Pamaran explained.
National Economic Development Authority-9 (NEDA) Assistant Regional Director Susan Valerio echoed the same, specifically pointing to two economic sectors in Zamboanga City.
“The siege last year has greatly affected the manufacturing and services sectors, thus pulling down the regional economic growth,”Valerio said.
The industry sector growth decelerated from 31.2 percent in 2012 to a measly 4.3 percent growth last year while the manufacturing sector which accounted for 26.1 percent of the regional economy posted loss from 35.2 percent in 2012 to a staggering negative 0.1 percent last year due to the decrease in food production.
She, however, said the construction sector’s growth is a “bitter-sweet” development.
“The rehabilitation efforts in the city spurred construction activities, in a way, offsetting some of the losses in the manufacturing sector,” she added.
Service sector remained the largest contributor to the region’s economy, barely posting an increase from 43 percent in 2012 to 43.7 percent, followed by industry and Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry, and Fisheries sectors with 34.6 percent and 21.7percent, respectively.
Not all is negative though for Zamboanga Peninsula last year as the Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry, and Fisheries (AHFF) rebounded from a negative 2.6 percent in 2012 to 0.7 percent last year.
Valerio said despite the deceleration, the total contribution of the region to the national economy remains the same at about 2 percent. However, the deceleration has put ZamPen from fastest growing economy in 2012 to only 14th out of the 16 regions in the country.
Pamaran, on the other hand, is very optimistic that the region will bounce back this year with economic indicators showing promising performance.