Baguio: The Philippine Statistics Authority in Cordillera Administrative Region (PSA-CAR) on Tuesday announced that the region posted a 4.8 percent economic growth in 2024, driven primarily by household final consumption expenditure. Villafe Alibuyog, PSA-CAR director, revealed in her report on the region's economic performance for 2024 that the services sector led this growth with a 69.4 percent increase, followed by industry at 23.2 percent and agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 7.4 percent. The region's per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) surpassed the PHP200,000 mark, reaching PHP201,088.
According to Philippines News Agency, the services sector's significant contribution was largely attributed to the tourism industry, which benefitted from new tourism products and improved data collection on tourist arrivals. Jose Dado, acting director of the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), noted that the region's economy continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate than the 6.9 percent GRDP recorded in 2023. Government aid, under various programs, has facilitated household spending, with individuals spending an average of PHP144,230 annually on final consumption.
Dado emphasized the need for more programs in the agriculture sector to increase its growth beyond the 2024 figure of 1.1 percent, which was an improvement from the negative growth in 2023. He highlighted the importance of initiatives such as greenhouses, tunnel vents, good agricultural practices, improved crop varieties, and mechanization to mitigate the impact of calamities on the sector's growth.
Dado also stressed the importance of strengthening micro, small, and medium enterprises to offset losses in the manufacturing sector. He suggested that local government units and concerned agencies consider shifting from mass tourism to providing meaningful travel experiences for tourists. The region's diversification efforts should focus on adopting innovation, mechanization in production, and modernizing agriculture.
Meanwhile, Susan Balanza, Department of Agriculture-CAR Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation chief, remarked that the minimal growth achieved validates the effectiveness of the department's interventions, which are supported by billions of pesos. For 2025, DA-CAR has allocated a PHP2.5 billion budget for its programs and interventions, in addition to locally and internationally funded projects like the Special Area for Agricultural Development and the Philippine Rural Development Program.
