BOI revises full-year investment target

MANILA, Philippines - The Board of Investments (BOI) has revised its full-year investment target after a strong first half performance, recording a 20.27 percent hike in total investments to P204.175 billion.

The 2011 investment target was initially set at P250 billion. However, BOI managing head Cristino L. Panlilio said it is possible to reach last year’s investment of P302 billion.

Panlilio said that even with the delisting of the IPPA contracts, investments are expected to be healthy this year. “The whole business atmosphere is bullish, just look at the construction,” he said.

At the same time, Panlilio urged businessmen to invest now given all the positive developments in the country. “I advise them (investors) to not get left behind. Rather than seeing the glass half empty look at it as half full because when they look back two years from now they will get left behind if they don’t invest.”

In a separate interview, BOI Executive Director Lucita P. Reyes said that investments from January to June this year was at P204.175 billion or 20.27 percent better than the P169.757 billion registered during the same period of 2010.

Employment generated for the first six months of the year grew by 128 percent to 31,899 from the 14,021 jobs a year ago. The number of projects likewise ballooned to 148 projects from the 90 recorded January to June 2010.

However, there was a decline in the number of investment approvals if June 2011 and June 2010 are compared. June 2011 is only one tenth of the June 2010 approvals or from P126.144 billion to only P12.991 billion.

Reyes explained that this is because the bulk of the June 2010 investments are for the independent power producers which were already delisted by the BOI in the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP). This means that IPPA projects will no longer enjoy incentives from the BOI.

The three big investment projects for June 2010 were by the San Miguel Energy Corporation, the San Roque multi-purpose powerplant and the hydro facility of the Ilihan National Gas.