BALANGA CITY — The Philippine Statistics Authority in its latest report ranked Bataan 5th in the Top 10 provinces and highly urbanized cities outside the National Capital Region that registered the highest gross domestic product in the country.
The Top 10 provinces and cities recorded GDP higher than the national average of P178,751 for year 2022.
Topping the list is Baguio City with P420,016 GDP, followed by Cagayan de Oro City, Lapu-Lapu City, Iloilo City and then Bataan as No. 5 with GDP of P297,930 but the highest among provinces. No. 6 is City of Cebu, followed by Laguna, City of Mandaue, City of Davao, and Batanes.
Gov. Jose Enrique Garcia 3rd said on Friday that the No. 5 ranking of Bataan showed that if compared to other provinces and cities on the average per capita per person, Bataan has higher GDP on person basis.
“Siguro naging ganito ang kalagayan ng ating ekonomiya dahil may trabaho sa probinsiya ng Bataan. Ang ating mga economic zones nakapagbibigay ng maayos na trabaho sa ating mga kababayan. Nandiyan ang mga commercial centers, malalaking mall,” the governor said.
Garcia said the farming and fishing sectors are doing good. “So, siguro sa dami ng iba’t ibang klase ng trabaho, ‘yan ang dahilan kaya maganda ang ating per capita GDP. Then, nadagdagan ‘yan ng mga investments na pumapasok na nakakadagdag sa magandang takbo ng ating ekonomiya.”
The governor said population plays a factor in the computation of GDP. “Maganda ang ating per capita GDP dahil hindi ganoon kalaki ang ating population. Kung sa isang lugar maraming oportunidad, maraming investments, trabaho pero malaki population, ang per capita GDP liliit din.”
Based on PSA report, Bataan has a population of 800,000.
“So, hopefully maipagpatuloy natin, masustain natin o lalo pang tumaas pa sa susunod na report. Malaking datos ‘yan na nagpapakita na patuloy na lumalaki ang ating ekonomiya. Ibig sabihin gumaganda ang trabaho, lumalaki ang kita ng mamamayan,” Garcia said.
