Iloilo City, provincial economies expand in 2025

ILOILO CITY — Iloilo province’s economy rebounded to 5.9 percent growth in 2025, while Iloilo City’s expanded slightly faster at 6.1 percent, according to the Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, October 13.

The province’s growth was up 4.3 percentage points from 1.6 percent in 2024, when a farm slump dragged its output. The city’s growth slowed by 1 percentage point from 7.1 percent.

At constant 2018 prices, the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached PHP 232.13 billion, up from PHP 219.23 billion in 2024, while the city’s GDP rose to PHP 181.99 billion from PHP 171.59 billion.

The province remained Western Visayas’ largest economy among provinces and highly urbanized cities, accounting for 34 percent of the region’s PHP 683.44 billion GDP, with Iloilo City second at 26.6 percent.

Both grew below the region’s 6.4 percent expansion in 2025, which the PSA earlier reported as the fastest among the country’s 18 regions and well above the national 4.4 percent. Capiz posted the highest growth in the region at 8.7 percent, followed by Antique at 8.6 percent and Guimaras at 8 percent.

In the province, human health and social work activities grew fastest at 13.5 percent, followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing (AFF) at 11.4 percent, and public administration and defense at 11.2 percent.

AFF contributed the most to overall provincial growth at 2.2 percentage points, followed by transportation and storage at 1 point, and wholesale and retail trade at 0.7 point. The recovery of AFF follows a sharp contraction in 2024, when the PSA attributed weak provincial growth to extreme weather, a prolonged dry spell and animal disease outbreaks.

Mining and quarrying in the province contracted by 10.2 percent, while construction declined by 4.5 percent.

Services accounted for 59.9 percent of the provincial economy, followed by industry at 20.1 percent and AFF at 19.9 percent.

In Iloilo City, human health and social work activities expanded by 14.2 percent, construction by 12.6 percent, and other services by 9.4 percent.

Wholesale and retail trade, including the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, made the largest contribution to city growth at 1.3 percentage points. Services accounted for 88.2 percent of the city’s economy.

The PSA estimated the province’s per capita GDP at PHP 109,269 in 2025, up 5.1 percent from the previous year. Iloilo City recorded PHP 394,755, a 5.8 percent increase and the highest among Western Visayas’ six economies.