FILIPINOS living in Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR) remained the biggest spenders in the Philippines in 2013, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA said the household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) nationwide slowed to 3.9 percent in 2013, from 4.8 percent in 2012.
However, the per-capita HFCE in Metro Manila increased 3.9 percent to P88,751 in 2013. If there are five members in a household, this translates to around P17,750.2 per Metro Manila resident.
Further, the PSA said the highest increase in per-capita HFCE was in the Ilocos region (Region 1), where the HFCE grew 6.6 percent to P44,623 per household.
This was followed by Western Visayas region or Region 6, which posted a growth of 5.6 percent to P40,392 per family.
“Calabarzon and Soccsksargen registered the least growth in per- capita HFCE in real terms at 1.2 percent, and 2.7 percent, respectively,” the PSA said.
Meanwhile, data showed that government final consumption expenditures (GFCE) grew 7.7 percent in 2013 to P723.64 billion, from last year’s P672.18 billion.
In terms of region, over 70 percent of its resources were spent in Luzon and more than half of this was spent in Metro Manila.
Data showed that the government spent 76 percent, or P540.22 billion of its expenditures in Luzon. Around 49.1 percent, or P355.11 billion was spent in Metro Manila. The remaining 25.6 percent or P185.11 billion was spent in other areas in Luzon.
Even with Supertyphoon Yolanda causing billions worth of damage in the Visayas, the government spent more in Mindanao than in the Visayas in 2013.
The government spent only 11.3 percent to P81.9 billion in the Visayas, compared to 14 percent, or P101.53 billion in Mindanao last year.
“Excluding NCR, the next top three regions namely: Calabarzon; Central Luzon; and Western Visayas recorded the next highest shares to total government expenditure accounting for 5.9 percent, 5.7 percent and 4.5 percent share, respectively to total GFCE,” the PSA said.
“On the other hand, ARMM [Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao], Caraga and CAR [Cordillera Administrative Region] were the regions with the lowest registered shares of 1.7 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively,” it added.
GFCE is one of the components of the Philippines’s gross regional domestic expenditure or GRDE. GRDE is the sum of all final uses of goods and services in the regional economies during the year.