The municipality of Catarman serves as a trading center of Northern Samar. The volume of trade and commerce in recent years has increased and is being favored by the adequate transportation facilities to Tacloban City, Calbayog City, Metro Manila and Cebu City, as those places serve as major points of distribution and supply of various goods and commodities, various agricultural and machine products that meet local demands. Economic atmosphere is made favorable thru the availability of twelve (12) different financial institutions which are the following: Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of The Philippines (DBP), Philippine National Bank (PNB), Philippine Veterans Bank,Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), Security Bank, China Bank, Asia United Bank AUB), Metro Bank, Banco De Oro, City Savings Bank (BDO), and First Consolidated Bank. All these bank extend financial assistance to qualified borrowers.
The municipality is basically an agricultural town. Main agricultural products include coconut/copra, rice, root crops, corn, abaca, and vegetables. Main livestock were cattle, swine, poultry and carabao.