Foreign investments up 12% in 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Total approved foreign investments grew 12 percent to P289.1 billion in 2012 from P258.2 billion in 2011, the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) said in a report.

In the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, total foreign investments approved by seven investment agencies reached P230 billion, NSCB added.

The investment agencies are the Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), BOI-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BOI-ARMM), and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

According to the NSCB, the manufacturing sector remained the top industry with P136.8 billion worth of investment pledges or 59.4 percent of total.

Transportation and storage came in second with investment pledges valued at P50 billion, contributing 21.7 percent, followed by information and communication at P14.5 billion or 6.3 percent.

NSCB secretary general Jose Ramon G. Albert also said the foreign and Filipino ventures approved by the government investment promoting agencies could generate 45,198 jobs.

“Out of these anticipated jobs, 69.3 percent or 31,342 jobs would come from projects with foreign interest,” Albert added.

Meanwhile, the top three investing countries for the fourth quarter of 2012 were Netherlands, Japan and the United States.

Netherlands pledged P100.9 billion or a 43.8-percent share while Japan and the US committed P50.9 billion (22.1 percent) and P32.8 billion (14.3 percent), respectively, of the total approved foreign investments.