The National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon and Calabarzon posted the sharpest declines among regions in terms of regional gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, recording double-digit contractions amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis and related quarantine restrictions.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday reported that Central Luzon registered the steepest drop as it fell by 13.9 percent, followed by Calabarzon with 10.5 percent and the NCR with 10.1 percent.
NCR, however, accounts for the biggest share of the country’s GDP accounting for 31.9 percent, followed by Calabarzon and Central Luzon with 14.5 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.
Together, these three regions account for 57.1 percent of GDP.
NCR, which became the epicenter of the pandemic, serves as the country’s economic center. Calabarzon hosts significant manufacturing activity, while agricultural activities are dominant in Central Luzon.
“The NCR’s level on economic output was estimated at P5.6 trillion in 2020. And this was lower than 2019’s P6.2 trillion. So the economic loss is about P627.745 billion. We should take note that the pandemic started in the latter part of the first quarter, so this really affected economic output of the region,” Paciano Dizon, regional director for PSA-NCR, said in a virtual briefing yesterday.
Aside from the community quarantines that were implemented since mid-March last year that led to limited mobility and partial operation of establishments, Dizon also cited the eruption of the Taal Volcano at the start of 2020 and various super typhoons as factors for NCR’s economic performance last year.
The economy contracted by 9.6 percent last year, the lowest since 1946, when the government started collecting the annual data for the GDP. The country had to deal with the spread of the pandemic last year, as well as quarantine measures that had to be implemented since mid-March to address the spread of the virus.
PSA data showed aside from the three regions which posted two-digit drops, four other regions recorded regional GDPs that had sharper drops compared to the average GDP.
These are the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley and Central Visayas which all recorded contractions of 9.9 percent last year, as well as Western Visayas which had a decline of 9.7 percent.
Meanwhile, all other regions posted contractions last year.
Greg Pineda, National Economic and Development Authority assistant secretary, cited the interrelation and interdependence of the different regions which affected their economic performances in 2020.
Pineda said during the PSA-NCR’s virtual briefing some of the regions with sharp declines are agricultural areas that provide food to Metro Manila. Others meanwhile are tourist destinations, as tourism was significantly affected by the pandemic and mobility restrictions.
“The services sector was affected, so these regions, not only did they have economic interactions with NCR, but their own services were affected. Services would require really face-to-face interactions, physical presence personal interactions, which our digitalization is still trying to address,” Pineda said.
“We have also witnessed how the (movement of) vegetables and other products when the travel restrictions were imposed (was affected), and there was some miscommunication and misunderstanding or unclear policies on travel protocols, especially on commodities.
So, we saw how that also impacted some farmers in this part of Northern Luzon,” he added.
