Iloilo City, province economies rebound from COVID-19

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The city and province of Iloilo have rebounded from the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as indicated by the gross city and provincial domestic product accounts compiled and analyzed by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Iloilo province recovered from a –6 percent economic performance in 2020 to 4.5 percent a year after.

The province’s economic in 2020 was valued at P181.8 billion which grew to P190 billion in 2021.

Before the pandemic in 2019, Iloilo province’s economy was valued at P193.3 billion on the back of a 4.4 percent growth from 2018.

On the other hand, Iloilo City’s economy grew by 6.8 percent in 2021, up from –12.8 percent in 2020.

The city’s economy in 2020 was valued at P123.9 before growing to P132.4 in 2021.

The city’s pre-pandemic economy in 2019 was valued at P142.1 billion after a 6.5 percent growth from 2018.

The data were revealed on Dec 13, 2022 as PSA-Iloilo released the results of the 2018 to 2021 Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) for Province of Iloilo and City of Iloilo.

The PPA is a mechanism that compiles the gross domestic product (GDP) using the production approach at the subregional level (city, province, municipalities, etc).

The PPA measured the subregional GDPs through 16 production industries classified under three major industry sectors – Services, Industry, and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AFF).

Interestingly, both the city and province benefitted from the Services sector which comprised the bulk of the two economies.

Services, which was valued at P190 billion, accounted for 51 percent of the province’s economy, contributing 3.1 percent to Iloilo’s 4.5 percent growth.

It’s a similar scenario in Iloilo City where its P132.4-billion Services sector accounted for 87.1 percent of its economy.

While agricultural in topography, AFF only comprised 28.5 percent of Iloilo province’s economy and contributed only 1.1 percent to the economic growth.

The industry sector contributed 0.4 percent to the province’s growth for a 20.6 percent share of its economy.

In Iloilo City, the industry sector contributed 0.3 percent to the 6.8 growth while AFF accounted for 0.06 percent. From a macro level, the industry sector accounts for 9.9 percent of the City GDP while AFF’s share is 3 percent.

On a sub-industry level, both Iloilo City and province benefited from the growth in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles which grew by 7.8 percent.

The city also got a boost from accommodation and food services (21.7 percent), human health and social work activities (16.3), public administration and defense (16.2) transportation and storage (12.5), other services (5.8) financial and insurance activities (5.5).

Iloilo province was buoyed by growths in human health and social work activities (18.9), mining and quarrying (10.6), information and communication (8.9), education (7.1), professional and business services (6.7), and financial and insurance services (6.6).