CITY OF MALOLOS – The Province of Bulacan under the administration of Gov. Daniel R. Fernando and Vice Gov. Alexis C. Castro has recently attained the Top 7.5 spot in the list of the Top 10 Fastest Growing Provinces based on the 2022 Economic Performance of the Provinces in the Philippines released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last February 19, 2024.
Gauging the ranking from the incorporated data from the first-time results of the Provincial Products Accounts (PPA), a mechanism to compile the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the subnational level of the 16 pilot regions outside the National Capital Region (NCR), 82 provinces and 17 Highly Urbanized Cities (HUCs) between the period of November to December last 2023 were ranked.
Further, the annual growth rates of the top 10 provinces surpassed the national GDP growth rate of 7.6% wherein first in the ranking is the Province of Aklan with 22.5% growth followed by Nueva Vizcaya on second rank with 13.1%, Davao Oriental with 12.3% growth on third rank, Sorsogon with 12.2% on fourth rank, Batanes on fifth ranking with 11.5% growth rate, Zambales on sixth rank with 11.3% growth, Romblon tied with Bulacan on 7.5 rank with 9.8% growth, Tarlac on ninth rank with 9.7% growth and Kalinga on tenth with 9.3% rating.
Among the 82 provinces contributing to the 2022 National GDP, Bulacan has also secured the 4th spot in the Top 10 Provinces with 3.0% shares along with the Provinces of Laguna being on top (5.0%); Cavite (3.7%) on second, Batangas (3.1%) on third, Pampanga (2.6%) being fifth on the list, Cebu (1.9%) on sixth, Pangasinan (1.8%) on seventh, Rizal (1.7%) on eight, Nueva Ecija (1.5%) on ninth, and Bataan (1.3%) on the tenth spot.
As of 2023, the PPA have been rolled out across all regions in the Philippines except for the National Capital Region, which is slated for pilot implementation in 2024, hence, by 2025, the PPA is set to be institutionalized across all regions, guaranteeing the annual compilation of PPA data for all provinces and HUCs nationwide.
