PEZA-approved investments down 23% in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) declined by almost 23 percent in the first nine months to P39.63 billion from P51.2 billion a year ago.

In a statement, PEZA officer-in-charge (OIC) Tereso Panga said the investments came from 148 new and expansion projects.

Specifically for July to September, the PEZA said its board has approved a total of 58 new and expansion projects expected to bring in P17.142 billion worth of investments.

This is also seen to create $877.807 million worth of exports and generate 13,904 jobs.

Among the approved new and expansion projects, 21 are for export, 19 for information technology, seven for facilities and three for tourism, according to the PEZA.

In addition, eight ecozone development projects were approved to boost the PEZA’s countryside development strategy: four manufacturing ecozones in Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan and Pampanga; two IT parks in Iloilo and Davao, and two agro-industrial zones in Iloilo.

Meanwhile, the PEZA said it was also able to register and approve strategic investments in the country.

It added that it closed 20 big-ticket projects, each with minimum P1 billion capital, from January to September.

These are expected to bring P24.758 billion worth of investments, $654.338 million of exports, and 9,649 direct jobs.

“These investments will be into manufacturing of various products including semiconductor manufacturing services (SMS) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS), accommodation, real estate activities, office administrative, business support activities among others,” the PEZA said.

It said some of the companies registering in PEZA big-ticket investments are Cebu Mitsumi Inc., Robinsons Land Corp. and TDK Philippines Corp.

“We remain bullish that we will be able to achieve our six to seven percent investment growth target for the year, taking into consideration the firm growth forecasts for 2022 of our winner ecozone sectors at 10 to 15 percent for IBPAP (IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines) and 10 percent for SEIPI (Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc.),” Panga said.

“These bright outlooks are aligned with the calibrated yearend GDP growth for the Philippines at 6.5 to 7.5 percent, which makes the country among the fastest growing economies in the region,” he added.

Moreover, Panga said he remains positive that the ecozone industry can be a key contributor to the country’s economic growth this year.

“We in PEZA assure the new administration under President Marcos and guided by the Department of Trade and Industry’s industrialization strategy that we can attract more investments for this last quarter of the year, given the positive growth rate forecast of the ecozone semiconductor-electronics and IT sectors, the aggressive investment promotions by the President, and upcoming missions to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Now is the best time to invest as incentives have been boosted along with top-level political support to ecozones,” Panga said.