PEZA-listed investments seen at P25B in 1st quarter

MANILA, Philippines - Investments in the Philippine Economic Zone (PEZA) are estimated at P20 to P25 billion for the first quarter of this year as the local tourism business starts to make headway.

In an interview with reporters, PEZA group manager for promotions and public relations Elmer San Pascual said investments in ecozones may ever surpass the P20- to P25-billion target for the first three months of the year.

“We are on track to meet our target maybe even more than that,” San Pascual said. Peza has targeted a 10-percent growth or P224 billion worth of investments for 2011.

San Pascual said that the local tourism sector is also making a headway during the first two months of the year.

Export earnings from PEZA-registered firms went up by 8.269 percent to $3.392 billion in January from $3.133 billion a year ago.

In 2010, exports surged to $40.47 billion. The figure is expected to go up by 10 percent until 2014 to $59.255 billion. Employment on the other hand stood at 735,672. This year employment is expected to go up by 10 percent to 809,239.

“We are looking at triple double this year,” PEZA director general Lilia De Lima said referring to the 10-percent growth for investments, employment and exports.

“We want to be conservative because we are coming from a very high base. The target is 10-10-10 which means 10-percent growth in investments, employment and exports,” De Lima explained.

“There will be a tapering off of investments because we already got the big ticket investors,” De Lima said. “We are coming from a very high base. When others were posting a decline last year we had a growth,” she added.