Bicol economy grows by 2.6 percent in 2011

By Marlon A. Loterte

Thursday 2nd of August 2012

LEGAZPI CITY, Aug 2 (PIA) -- The economy of Bicol region grew by 2.6 percent in 2011, half its pace in 2010.

The National Statistical Coordination Board data showed that the service sector buoyed the regional economy with a 3.9 percent growth.

The service sector, the biggest contributor to the region’s output at 55.5 percent, grew at a slightly faster rate from the 3.7 last year.

Transportation, storage and communication rose at an accelerated rate of 6.5 percent from one percent rate in 2010.

Meanwhile, the report showed that the growth of the trade sector slowed down to 3.3 percent from a robust 12.2 percent expansion in 2010. Finance also plunged registering a negative 0.1 percent growth from a near standstill.

Other services turned in the best performance among the service subsectors with a much improved 7.7 percent expansion from 2.6 a year ago.

It also showed that public administration and defense shrunk by 1.4 from a modest 5.6 percent the previous year.

Growth in the industry sector skidded to 1.9 percent from a fast 10.9 percent expansion in 2010.

Meanwhile, the 38.8 percent surge in manufacturing was not enough to compensate for contractions in the mining and quarrying and construction subsectors.

Mining and quarrying decreased to 12.2 percent, a complete reversal from the 37.3 percent surge in 2010. Similarly, construction plunged by 4.5 percent from a positive 4.7 percent growth in 2010.

Electricity, gas and water supply managed a 2.9 percent growth, way below the 7.8 percent expansion in 2010.

Industry accounted for 18.9 percent of Bicol region’s economy in 2011, a slight drop from the 19.0 percent contribution in 2010.

Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing (AHFF) sector just managed to stay afloat at a growth of 0.7 percent. The 0.8 percent contraction in the fishing subsector compounded the lackluster performance of the agriculture and forestry subsector.

Agriculture and forestry hardly expanded with a 1.2 percent growth, a slowdown from the 4.8 percent performance in 2010.

AHFF’s share to the total economy dropped from 26.1 percent in 2010 to 25.6 percent in 2011.

Services were the largest contributor to the economic performance of Bicol region in 2011, accounting for about 2.1 percentage points of the 2.6 growth.

Industry contributed almost 0.4 percentage point, while AHFF’s share was close to 0.2 percentage point. (MAL/NSCB/PIA5/Albay)