ILOILO CITY — The Philippine Statistics Authority in Western Visayas (PSA-6) has projected a loss of P380 billion in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Region 6 amid the transfer of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to the newly formed Negros Island Region (NIR).
Marlene Alviar, chief statistical specialist of PSA-6, said in a press conference on Tuesday that Negros Occidental and Bacolod City comprise about 40 percent of the economy for Western Visayas.
PSA's projection and figure is based on the 2022 GDP share of provinces and highly urbanized cities in the region, while the exact percentage share for 2023 is still being compiled.
Negros Occidental's share of the region's GDP was 25.8 percent, while Bacolod City has a contribution of 13.9 percent.
PSA data showed that the total GDP of the region in 2022 was valued at P955.02 billion, with Negros Occidental contributing P246.39 billion and Bacolod City amounting to P132.81 billion.
In 2023, the economy of Western Visayas reached P1.024 trillion. This led Western Visayas to contribute 4.9 percent to the national GDP and be ranked as the fifth-largest economy among the 17 regions in the country.
Alviar, however, pointed out that a trillion-peso economy may not be feasible with the creation of the NIR, which separated Negros Occidental and Bacolod City from Western Visayas.
'We may revert to a billion-peso economy in 2024 if the NIR is fully established, as we have lost a major contributing province,' she said.
The PSA-6 official clarified that the reduction is in terms of monetary value, emphasizing that economic growth is still dependent on the performance of the remaining provinces.
In 2023, Western Visayas ranked third in palay (unmilled rice) and commercial fisheries production, first in sugarcane production and sixth in corn production among regions in the country.