Investment pledges down 24%

MANILA, Philippines - Investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) fell 24 percent in 2014 compared to a year ago.

In a statement yesterday, the BOI said total investments approved reached P354.5 billion in 2014, down from P466.03 billion in 2013.

BOI managing head Adrian Cristobal Jr. attributed the decline to “fewer applications for energy-related projects this year.”

“But overall, there are more projects this year, 294 compared to 282 last year, with 54 percent more jobs projected (at) 58,619 (this year) compared to 38,100 last year,” he said in a text message.

“There are more decent and quality jobs expected with these projects,” he added.

Bulk or 90 percent of the investment commitments made with the agency came from domestic firms amounting to P317.69 billion.

The remaining 10 percent was accounted for by foreign companies with investment pledges amounting to P36.85 billion.

By sector, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply continued to get the biggest share of total investments with P174.7 billion.

The construction sector came in second with investments amounting to P64 billion, followed by mass housing which had P47.7 billion, manufacturing with P24.5 billion, and transportation and storage ice activities with P20.8 billion.

Projects which had the biggest investments for the period include St. Raphael Power Generation Corp. which will build two coal-fired power plants in Balayan and Calaca in Batangas amounting to P63.17 bilion, GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co. which will put up a 540-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Lanao del Norte worth P50 billion, and Vertex Tollways Development Inc. which will construct the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Phase 2 worth P23.43 billion.

In terms of location, the National Capital Region was the preferred destination of investments for the year with the amount committed at P116 billion, a 215-percent surge from last year’s P36.8 billion.

Region IV placed second as it got investments amounting to P112.4 billion, up 26 percent from last year’s P89.4 billion. 

Other top investment destinations were Region X (P59 billion), Region VI (P22.3 billion) and Region III (P10 billion).