Puerto Princesa is the fastest-growing city outside NCR

NEARLY ALL highly urbanized cities (HUCs) outside the National Capital Region (NCR), led by Puerto Princesa City, saw their economies grow faster than the national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

The PSA released for the first time the results of the Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) — a mechanism to compile the GDP at the subnational level — of the 17 pilot regions outside the NCR, covering 82 provinces and 17 HUCs from November to December 2023.

The PPA indicator reported that Puerto Princesa City was the fastest-growing highly urbanized city as its economy expanded by 14.7% in 2022, followed by Tacloban City with 13.8% growth and Lapu-Lapu City with 13.2%.

In terms of share to the national GDP, Davao City had the largest share of 2.5% in 2022. This was followed by the cities of Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Baguio, with 1.5%, 1.3%, and 0.8%, respectively.

Oikonomia Advisory & Research, Inc. President and Chief Economist John Paolo R. Rivera said in an e-mail that HUCs are growing faster because they have much room for expansion compared with NCR and have more resources.

“They will continue to grow faster until resources have been fully utilized. To sustain growth, they need to harness the power of technology and innovation to manage population growth, sustain job opportunities, environmental degradation, and other issues that hamper growth,” said Mr. Rivera.

“Urbanization must not be confined. It should sprawl to spread growth and its benefits,” he added.

PSA data showed GDP rose by 7.6% in 2022. This was the fastest economic growth since the 8.8% reading in 1976.

Philippine GDP expanded by 5.6% in 2023, falling short of the government’s 6-7% target. — Lourdes O. Pilar