Investment approvals surge 192%

MANILA, Philippines - Combined investment approvals of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Board of Investments (BOI) surged 192 percent to P231.3 billion during the first half of the year from P79.24 billion in the same period last year.

PEZA-approved investments for the first half went up by 59 percent to P61.3 billion. Earlier, the Board of Investments (BOI) said its approvals jumped by 318 percent to P170 billion.

In a report to Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, PEZA Director General Lilia B. De Lima said that the investments for January to June came from 246 projects which are expected to push up exports by 92 percent to $2.84 billionduring the first half of the year.

Employment generated by firms operating in PEZA zones slightly went up to 44,127 from 41,977.

Despite the strong first half performance, PEZA spokesman Elmer San Pascual said they have no plans of revising their 15 percent investment target for the year. “During our last meeting we decided that we will stick to our original target,” San Pascual told reporters in an interview.

According to San Pascual, they will not be revising their target because the P211 billion full year investment target is already steep and substantial. However, he cleared that they expect more investments to come during the second half of the year.

Earlier, the BOI said that they have already exceeded their full year target of P135.76 billion after it recorded P170 billion worth of approvals for the first half of the year.

Investment approvals jumped by 318 percent to P170 billion for the first half of the year as firms continue to pour in more capital in energy products. The January to June figure was 318 percent better than the P40.63 billion recorded during the same period a year ago.