BOI-approved investments up 26%

MANILA, Philippines — Investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) rose 26 percent in the January to October period from a year ago driven by projects in five key industries.

In a statement yesterday, the BOI said it approved P515.9 billion worth of investments in the 10-month period this year, higher than the P408.8 billion a year ago.

The BOI said the top five key industries that boosted the latest approved investment figures are energy or power, manufacturing, transportation and storage, construction or public private partnership, and real estate.

Investments for projects in manufacturing in particular, surged 271.32 percent to P142.86 billion as of end-October from P38.47 billion last year.

Figures for investments in the four other key industries were not available as of press time yesterday.

Approved investments from domestic sources were not available as of press time yesterday.

Those from foreign sources, meanwhile, reached P39.3 billion, well-above the P15.3 billion in the same period last year.

By country, the main sources of foreign investments were from Indonesia with P6.4 billion, Malaysia with P2.9 billion, Japan with P2.8 billion, Australia with P1.1 billion, China with P1.1 billion, US with P612 million, Italy with P485.7 million, Singapore with P404.1 million, and Switzerland with P357.7 million.

Among the strategic projects approved by the BOI during the 10-month period are Petron Corp.’s P81.9 billion condensate processing complex project, FGEN LNG Corp.’s P62.5 billion LNG terminal project, Pulangi Hydro Power Corp.’s P38 billion renewable energy development of hydropower resources project, Citra Central Expressway Corp.’s P25.7 billion Metro Manila Skyway project, SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp.’s P24.1 billion heavy steel section project, Solar Philippines Commercial Rooftop Projects Inc.’s P19 billion (Zambales), P13.6 billion (Tarlac), and P13.6 billion (Batangas) solar energy development projects, APO Agua Infrastructure Inc.’s P13.3 billion bulk water supply project, and Ionic Cementworks Industries Inc.’s P12 billion cement production project.

To attract more investments Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said there is a need to address all roadblocks to achieving a competitive industrial structure such as power cost, logistics costs, and greater access to major agricultural inputs.

BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said the agency is working hard to breach its investment target of P680 billion this year.

Last year, approved investments by the BOI hit P617 billion.