CLuzon economy lost P300M in 2020
Highest contraction among regions due to pandemic
CENTRAL Luzon’s economy lost P300 million in 2020 due to Covid-19, but is eyeing to bounce back.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) OIC-Regional Director Agustin Mendoza, in a statement cited the need for a rebound after the region posted a -13.9-percent contraction, the highest among regions.
“It is exceedingly necessary to reinforce our policies and interventions to ensure the economy will not drop and shall be able to cascade to all the windfalls of robust and lasting recovery,”
Mendoza said.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the region’s economy dropped by P300 million or from P2.18 trillion in 2019 to P1.88 trillion in 2020.
In response to the pandemic, NEDA crafted the Regional Action Plan (RAP), which comes with 255 immediate term programs and projects worth P7.6 billion intended to expedite social and economic revitalization, ensure safe mobility of the general public, guarantee equal access to affordable and nutritious food, maintain people-centered, technology enabled and responsive public service during the state of public health emergency.
“The timely and uninterrupted execution of RAP since the last quarter of 2020 enabled us to build an inspiring story as a region and produced encouraging results relative to our bid to combat succession of health, economic and humanitarian crises,” Mendoza said.
With RAP, the unemployment rate in Central Luzon showed signs of improvement when it dropped by 9.6 percent in the last quarter of 2020 compared to the 27.3 percent at the height of the pandemic.
He added the average inflation rate was estimated at 3.03 percent and is still within the target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.
As RAP cushions the economic loss, Mendoza rallied for the further implementation of recovery policies for 2021 such as supporting the industries in the services group, which accounted for the biggest share of 46.6 percent to the regional economy for 2020.
He said there was a need to embrace courses of action that will simplify and harmonize the regulatory framework for business registration and licensing, strengthen government and industry linkages, intensify value and supply-chain linkages, encourage development of emerging industries and enhance the productivity, innovative capacity and resilience of micro, small and medium enterprises and advance the use of digital technology to guarantee business continuity.
NEDA also pushed for Central Luzon to build an infrastructure base to improve resiliency and accelerate connectivity and linkages, ensure food security, human capital development, energy, industrial growth and urban development to back the industry group with 39.9 percent economic contribution.
Among these are the Clark International Airport New Passenger Terminal, The New Clark City Food Processing Terminal and International Food Market and the New Clark City Mixed-Use Industrial Real Estate Development.
NEDA highlighted the need to upgrade the agriculture, forestry and fishing group of Central Luzon with 13.5 percent economic contribution to guarantee its future growth and improve the well-being of families living in rural and coastal areas.