COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) took part in the virtual dissemination forum conducted Tuesday, November 24, 2020, during the 2019 Report on the Economic Performance of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) spearheaded by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA-BARMM) held at PSA Conference Room, Brgy. Rosary Heights IX, this city.
Razulden A. Mangelen, PSA-BARMM OIC Regional Director, reported the BARMM’s 2019 economic performance.
“The economy of the BARMM grew at a slower pace by 5.9% in 2019. BARMM ranked 7th among the 17 regions and ranked 2nd in Mindanao in terms of GRDP/GRDE growth rate in 2019. Per Capita, GRDP/GRDE of BARMM improved by 3.9%. Services have the biggest share in the region’s economy at 40.4% while Household Final Consumption Expenditure shares the biggest at 48.1% to region’s expenditure,” Mangelen stressed.
BPDA Director General Engr. Mohajirin T. Ali, chair of the Regional Statistics Committee (RSC), said the major shift of the region’s sector from agriculture, fishery, and forestry (AFF) to service sector signifies that BARMM’s economy is thriving.
“We encourage the ministries, agencies, and offices of the BARMM to strengthen and continue their support by recording the administrative data required in the GRDP/GRDE estimation,” Ali stressed.
The said activity is the first time that BARMM as a region and as compiled by the Philippine Statistics Authority reported its economic performance to a forum.
Undersecretary Claire Dennis S. Mapa, PSA National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, said the PSA had a simultaneous released of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) and Gross Regional Domestic Expenditure (GRDE) in the PSA website last October 22, 2020.
“It is only on the production side or the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) that we are reporting, but for this year, there will be a lot of first on the regional accounts of the Philippines including the simultaneous release of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), the production side of the estimation, and the Gross Regional Domestic Expenditure (GRDE), the expenditure side of our regional accounts. In the past, the GRDP is released every April of the year and GRDE is released every July,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mapa also expressed the PSA’s desire for a continuous and active collaboration with the BARMM as their partner and source in producing data.
BARMM Chief Minister Ahod B. Ebrahim said that in the context of the GRDP and GRDE, it is a must to tailor-fit its data to BARMM’s development plans and programs.
“With PSA’s unparalleled commitment to help in this process, the BARMM Government are optimistic that things will be smoother and not baseless,” Ebrahim expressed via video message. Also present were PSA Region XII Regional Director Atty. Maqtahar L. Manulon, Lanao del Sur Chief Statistical Specialist Noronisa Macadadaya, PSA-BARMM Chief Statistical Specialist Mahmur H. Sarail, Members of the Parliament and representatives from BARMM’s ministries, agencies, and offices. (Lovella Lao-Lastimosa, IKMD, BPDA-BARMM)