MANILA, Philippines — Investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reached P160.44 billion from January to Dec. 15, already surpassing the conservative end of the agency’s target for this year.
The figure marks an increase of 14.03 percent from the same period a year ago.
This covers a total of 221 projects consisting of 202 locator projects and 19 developer projects.
These also have a projected export value of $3.71 billion and are expected to generate an employment of 38,360.
The PEZA earlier said that the conservative end of its investment approvals target for this year was P154.77 billion.
With one more board meeting left for this year on Dec. 19, the PEZA is hoping for investments approvals to reach P200 billion by the end of 2023.
“We’re hoping to reach P200 billion,” PEZA director general Tereso Panga told The STAR in a Viber message.
In its board meeting on Dec. 7, the PEZA approved P19.6 billion worth of projects.
Of the 24 projects, 14 are ecozone export enterprise projects, four are facilities enterprise projects, and three are IT projects. Three developer operator projects particularly for IT centers in Capas and San Miguel in Tarlac as well as in Bataraza in Palawan have also been approved.
The projects have a projected export value of $286.9 million and will create 4,515 jobs.
Last month, Panga expressed confidence in surpassing last year’s investment approvals.