Asean summit seen to improve economy

With the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit that would be held in Cebu, the National Economic Development Authority is optimistic that Region-7 will be able to meet its economic projections this year.

NEDA-7 director Marlene Rodriguez said that the coming ASEAN summit is expected to boost Cebu's business and tourism that would help improve the region's economic situation.

She added that at present, the region is doing very well as it posted a 6.4-percent economic growth compared to last year's 5.9 percent.

"We also have better inflation situation now," she stressed.

In a report during the meeting of the Regional Development Council last Friday at the DepEd Ecotech Center in Lahug, Rodriguez said there are positive indicators of continued economic growth in Central Visayas.

"By how much, it remains a question as it would depend on the success of the government and private sector collaboration in seizing market opportunities and reducing cost of business," she said, adding that with good economic prospects, employment is also expected to improve.

Further, she said that the markets of major sectors like tourism, real estate, housing and construction, exports and drivers of the rural economy present opportunities. These major sectors are established with pipeline capacity to generate dollar inflows, employment compensation, new investment and businesses.

"And because of the ASEAN, we would be able to attain all these and expect growth in these prospects," Rodriguez said.

For the year 2004 and 2005, NEDA reported that the region's growth drivers -exports, tourism and services exhibited increases.

Exports experienced double-digit growth and reached US$1.3 billion and US$ 4.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2004 and the whole year of 2005, respectively.

Rodriguez also said that in terms of tourist arrivals and air transport services, data show increases in the number of flights and passengers. However, she did not provide figures.

Employment indicators also improved as employment in special economic zones increased and the number of deployed overseas workers went up.

However, despite the lower inflation rate, NEDA noted increases in the prices of selected food items in the region like cereal preparations, eggs, fish, fruits and vegetables, meat, miscellaneous foods and meals eaten outside. - Wenna A. Berondo