BOI, PEZA investments soar 33% to P220B in first 10 months

The Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) – the two biggest investment agencies in the country – registered a combined P219.88 billion worth of projects in the first 10 months of this year, a substantial 33-percent increase from the P165.67-billion level in the same period a year ago.

The BOI had the bulk of committed investments at P153.42 billion during the period, 29 percent higher than the P119-billion level in 2005, while PEZA, which oversees the economic zones, approved investments worth P66.46 billion from January to October this year, up 42 percent from P46.67 billion last year.

BOI managing head Elmer C. Hernandez said the increased project commitments can be attributed to government’s successful efforts in implementing fiscal reforms, thus increasing investor confidence in the Philippines.

He added that with the improved investment trend, the full year investment target of P254 billion could be attained by the two agencies. Last year, the BOI and PEZA approved total investments amounting to P231 billion.

The total number of approved BOI and PEZA projects likewise increased 17 percent to 568 projects, compared to the 486 projects approved during the same period last year.

The approved projects this year provided employment for 112,163 workers, also up 19 percent from the 94,721 employed in 2005.

Of the total approved investments, foreign investments amounted to P84.6 billon, higher by 28 percent compared to the P66.2 billion level approved for the first 10 months of 2005.

Local investments, on the other hand, amounted to P135.3 billion, a bigger 36 percent jump from P99.5 billion recorded from January to October 2005.

By nationality, the Americans overtook the Japanese as the country’s major investors with total investments amounting to P35.18 billion, while Japanese investments slowed down to P18.05 billion.

Majority of the investments, or P93.51 billion, went to infrastructure, while the manufacturing and industrial services sector got P100.35 billion in new investments.

The information technology sector got P12.91 billion with most of the investments going into value-added activities such as software development and business process outsourcing.

Among the top investors during the period include GN Power Ltd. which is investing P43.9 billion, and mobile telecommunication companies Smart (P33 billion), Globe (P5.48 billion) and Digitel (P6 billion) specifically for their respective third generation (3G) technology upgrade.