Iloilo City sees uptick in biz registration, capitalization
Reflecting private sector trust and confidence, Iloilo City has been seeing an upward trend in business registration and capitalization, data from the Local Economic Development and Investment Promotion (LEDIP) Office showed.
The total number of establishments applying for licenses to do business posed a steady increase from 2020 to 2024. New and renewal registrations logged at 16,100 in 2020, followed by a slight growth to 16,200 in 2021.
The city saw a jump to 17,400 and 18,900 in 2022 and 2023, respectively, then achieved a 19,600 mark by the end of 2024. In terms of investments and funding to business situated here, Iloilo City’s business-friendly policies received overwhelming confidence.
There was a gradual start in 2020 and 2021 with P3.41 billion and P3.43 billion in total capitalization, followed by a 16.56% increase to P3.99 billion in 2022 and a 29.22% spike to P5.16 billion in 2023.
The private sector’s trust translated into the recovering sales reported by registered firms despite seeing a dip from 2020 to 2021, or from P165.54 billion to P139.75 billion, due to the pandemic.
In the succeeding years, the city gained a positive momentum at P147.65 billion in 2022 and a spike of 17.24% or P173.11 billion in gross sales in 2023. Considered the seedbed of Iloilo City’s economy, micro-businesses take up 94.01% based on size classification. Small businesses accounted for 4.74%, medium businesses at 1%, and large businesses made up only 0.25% of the total registered.
LEDIP office head Velma Jane Lao said this landscape highlights micro and small enterprises as key drivers in a local economy that is friendly to startups and with a preference for low-risk ventures.
“We recognize our micro and small enterprises are the backbone of the economy. Efforts towards helping them and enabling them to thrive are being considered by Mayor Jerry P. Trenas and the city government,” said Lao.
Iloilo City has been recognized as the fastest-growing city in Western Visayas and the second fastest-growing among the 33 highly urbanized cities in the Philippines in 2023, based on Regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data by the Philippine Statistics Authority. (Pearl Socias/Iloilo City PIO)