Western Visayas Statistics

Inflation rate at 7.6% in January 2005...

Prices of all commodities in the region generally continued to be stable with an inflation rate at 7.6 percent in January 2005. Although, this is higher than the inflation rate of January last year which was 2.7 percent. The purchasing power of peso weakened to PhP0.81 in January 2005 from PhP0.87 in the same period of 2004.

More vehicles registered in 2004...

The automobile industry in the region continue to show as one of the leading factors in the growth of its economy as shown in the number of motor vehicles registered in 2004. The number totaled to 261,062 resulting to an increase of 21,421 or 8.94% over the 2003 which was 239,641.

Fire incidence in the region decreased by 19.6% in 2004...

Total fire incidence in the region decreased by 210 cases or 19.6 percent from 1,279 in 2003 to 1,069 in 2004. Estimated cost of damages to property is Php215,436,470 in 2004 or a decent 1 percent decrease from Php217,220,593 posted in 2003. Among the six provinces, the province of Negros Occidental and Iloilo posted the highest drop in the number of incidence. Negros Occidental decreased from 757 in 2003 to 556 in 2004 or 36.2 percent decrease while Iloilo posted a 15.8 percent decrease from 404 in 2003 to 349 in 2004. The rest of the region however, posted an increase in fire incidence. The highest increase was in the province of Aklan of 61.5 percent from 10 in 2003 to 26 in 2004. The provinces of Capiz and Guimaras with 30 percent (28 in 2003 to 40 in 2004) and 25.4 percent (53 in 2003 to 71 in 2004), respectively. While the province of Antique equaled its 2003 reported incidence of 27 cases. Most of the cases were accidental causes/motives and structural in nature.
Total investment in the region increased by 28.5 percent in 3rd qtr. of 2004...

A total of Php1.8 billion worth of investments were generated by the region during the 3rd quarter of 2004 showing a 28.5 percent increase over the same quarter of the previous year. An increase of 4.9 percent in new business registration contributed to such growth. Among the provinces, Iloilo recorded the highest investment growth of 543.2 percent. Majority of the registered firms in the region were from wholesale/retail and services sectors comprising 53.0% and 40.0%, respectively. Guimaras province also posted a 297.6 percent increase in registered firms. Capital intensive firms registered in Guimaras were beach resorts, fruit processing , real estate, recreation services, vegetables and fruits manufacturer.
Employment rate in the Region up by 2.2 percentage points...

The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) or the proportion of those in the labor force against the working age population in October 2004 decreased by 4.5 percentage points compared to the October round 2003. Unemployment rate or the proportion of the total number of unemployed persons to the total number of persons in the labor force recorded a decrease of 2.2 percentage points, from 7.9% in October 2003 to 5.7% in October 2004 round of the Labor Force Survey.

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