BOI sees investments hitting record P350 billion

MANILA, Philippines -  The Board of Investments (BOI) expects to exceed all investment expectations and break all investment records this year as it sees capital inflows hitting P350 billion by December.

In a recent one day investment roadshow in Bukidnon, BOI Executive Director Efren V. Leano said the agency BOI was able to attract more than P2 billion worth of investment interest.

Mountain View College, a Baptist school in Bukidnon is looking at putting up a P1.2 billion hydro generator and a P300 million resort in the area. Leano said there is a lot of interest in Bukidnon especially in the area of tourism.

Although BOI, an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), did not approve any investment applications for the month of September, the agency is already awashed with applications.  There was no approvals for September because BOI was in the process of creating its guidelines.

Meanwhile, the BOI has already issued its new investments guidelines making incentives stricter as firms would now have to quantify their contribution to the economy before getting the income tax holiday (ITH). Before, investors would get the full 30 percent ITH or nothing at all. This time, the ITH may be limited depending on four factors – job generation, net value added, multiplier effect and measured capacities.

 DTI Undersecretary Cristino L. Panlilio said this will be good because the ITH will now be strictly confined to firms that contribute to the economy. He said most weight will be given to job generation but this does not mean that less job intensive investments like those for power will not get ITH because of the net value added component.