BAGUIO CITY – The local government announced that manufacturing companies operating in the Loakan-based Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) accounted for forty- three percent of the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of the Cordillera last year.
A report from the Cordillera office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA-CAR) showed that the CAR showed the fastest economic growth at 12.1 percent followed by Davao Region at 10.9 percent, Central Luzon at 9.3 percent and Western Visayas at 8.3 percent.
The region’s 12.1 percent growth was attributed to the double-digit growth of the industry sector, particularly manufacturing and construction sub-sectors wherein manufacturing, the industry’s biggest contributor, posted a 19.5 percent growth last year, with bulk of the manufacturing industries are located in Baguio City.
Further, PEZA exports data, including those at John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ) and S Cyberzone totaled $1.9 billion last year, a16-percent increase from the $.16 billion value of exports the previous year due to the increased world demand for electronics, fabricated metals and call center services along with a robust exchange rate.
The local government added employment in PEZA industries also registered year-on-year increases wherein average employment was 15,091 last year compared to the 13,566 workers in the zone in 2016, an increase of 11.2 percent.
On non-PEZA trade and industry in the city, the local government stated the same continues to prosper with a total of 24,494 business permits issued of which 6,904 or 26.1 percent were special permits. Of the total number of business establishments in the city, 51 percent are on retail and wholesale; followed by real estate leasing, hotels, motels, inns, boarding houses, transient houses, apartments and the like, at 26.6 percent; other services, such as call centers, educational institutions, insurance and computer shops, at 13.4 percent; restaurants, coffee shops, eateries, fastfood, refreshments at 5.6 percent; real estate brokerage, brokers, developers and general contractors at 1.8 percent and the remaining are on amusement facilities and financial institutions and the said business establishments employed 103,650 individuals last year.
On the other hand, tourism arrivals last year considerably surpassed the figures recorded the previous year wherein there were 1,521,748 tourists that arrived in the city last year compared to the 1,294,906 tourist arrivals the previous year, an increase of 17.5 percent.
Moreover, the report stipulated that tourists stayed longer in the city last year or an average of 2.77 nights as compared to only 1.57 nights the previous year.
The local government also claimed that additional accommodation establishments employed 2,943 individuals last year, an increase of 6.5 percent compared to the previous year.
Last year, Baguio City was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of the 64 worldwide in its Creative Cities Network, the first city in the country to be given the said recognition.
By Dexter A. See
