DTI review shows 'measly' private investments in '99

Private investments amounted to a measly $50 million in 1999 with government accounting for the bulk of the $2.9 billion that was counted as investments that came in during the year.

The ongoing audit being conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) revealed that of the amount reported as new investments, only $50 million were purely private undertaking, mostly expansion of existing businesses.

A source privy to the review of the figures released by the Board of Investments (BOI) revealed that as government accounted for over 90 percent of investments,mostly infrastructure projects under various schemes.

Accoding to the source, the figures revealed by the segregation of BOI's 1999 investment data shocked newly-appointed Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II who ordered the audit as soon as he came in.

Roxas had initiated a review of government's investment and export targets for 2000 to get a clear situationer and validate previous targets against actual performance of the different sectors. The review was later expanded to include a comprehensive impact assessment of government's incentives program.

The source said the BOI data was broken apart and sorted, specifically to isolate private sector investment versus government investments. "We wanted to determine which was leading what and where were the waknesses if any."

Although the source admitted that government's pump-priming skewed the 1999 data, the actual size of private investments was still a surprise to Roxas. "You don't see details like this until you actually disaggregate the lump sum figures," the source said.