PEZA investments seen to hit P297B by 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Investments at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) are expected to hit P297 billion by 2014 after posting a P204 billion worth of investments in 2010.

PEZA director general Lillia B. De Lima made the statement after the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) indicated earlier that investments by PEZA will contract and will only be P183.1 billion by 2014.

Likewise the DTI data showed that PEZA investments will be slower this year at P110.6 billion. De Lima disputed this, saying that they are actually projecting a 10 percent growth this year at P224 billion.

 “PEZA does not and will never aim for lower or even negative investment target of only P110.6 billion for 2011,” De Lima said. She stressed that PEZA already attained a P204.394 billion investment level in 2010 and will only aspire for higher investment for this year.

De Lima reiterated that even at the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, PEZA targeted a 10 percent increase in its investments from the 2008 actual investment of P154.8 billion. PEZA did not only achieve a 10 percent increase in investments in 2009 but even surpassed its target and pulled off with a whopping 13.3 percent increase in investment of P175.4 billion.

In 2010, PEZA targeted a 15 percent increase in investment or P201 billion. Again, PEZA surpassed its own target and generated a total of P204.4 billion or an increase of 16.55 percent.

This year, although PEZA is already coming from a high investment figure of P204.394 billion, De Lima is very optimistic that it can accomplish the 10 percent increase in investment of P224 billion. This is because of the renewed confidence shown by the international business community in the administration of President Aquino.

She also dismissed the projected target of only P182.7 billion investment for 2014 and showed that with a conservative projection of 10 percent annual increase in PEZA investments for the five year period from 2010 to 2014, PEZA’s cumulative total projected investment will reach P1.241 trillion by 2014.