Mindanao is projected to have a 7 to 8 percent growth in Gross Regional Domestic Product this year.
Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) deputy executive director Romeo Montenegro said the projection is based on the 2018 economic performance of Mindanao estimated to be between 6.9 and 7.5 percent as indicated by preliminary data available with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Montenegro said that complete data for the entire year of 2018 are still verified by the PSA. He said the figures will be published sometime in the first quarter of 2019.
“But based on our assessment during the last quarter of 2018, Mindanao was able to hurdle that figure, amidst the implementation of Martial Law in the whole island, and the episode of an infla\tion that was experienced by the entire Philippines,” he said during the Wednesday’s at Habi at Kape media forum at Abreeza Mall.
Montenegro said that Mindanao performed well in overall agriculture output, as against earlier gloomy predictions.
“Nationally, the agricultural output of the Philippines for 2018 was expected to decline. However, doomsayers have been proven wrong, because Mindanao continued to be the Philippines’ food basket and the chief source of the country’s top 10 agricultural products for export,” he said.
The MinDA director said that the economic growth of the island in agriculture has been matched by the tremendous growths of real estate development and the construction industry.
Montenegro said that Northern Mindanao contributed the biggest in-flow in Mindanao with 900-percent growth in 2018.
“We would like to see other regions in Mindanao to seize investment in-flows and demonstrate strong growth performance for 2019, with the improvement of infrastructure services in the island region,” he said.
