BOI sees drop in investments on lack of big-ticket projects

MANILA, Philippines - Investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) are expected to be weaker again this year in the absence of big-ticket energy projects, an official said yesterday.

In a press briefing following an investment roadshow, BOI supervising director for industry development services Ma. Corazon Dichosa said investments registered with the agency by yearend are likely to be lower than the P354.76 billion recorded last year.

“Yes, it might happen because we’re seeing less and less of power projects coming in compared to last year. Up to this date, there are still fewer number of projects so we might have a lower figure compared to last year,” Dichosa said.

Last year, investment pledges with the BOI declined 24 percent to P354.76 billion from P466.03 billion in 2013.

Dichosa, however, said last year’s slowdown and this year’s likely drop is just normal given there were years when there was an abundance of large power investments.

“If you will look at the demand-supply gap and forecast of Department of Energy, most of the country’s installation targets are already satisfied so that is why we can expect less and less power projects coming in,” she said.

With the slowdown in power investments, Dichosa said the BOI hopes the manufacturing and real estate sectors will be able to pick up the slack.

“While power investments are going down, manufacturing investments are going up. They are the ones contributing most of the growth in terms of investment approvals so far, and also real estate,” she said.

“So we do not set targets for investments because when we try to analyze figures, there are really plenty of one-time, big- time investments. We don’t look at investment targets but we’re focusing more on employment generation,” the BOI official added.