MANILA, Dec. 19 – Trade Secretary Ramon
Lopez, Chairman of the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI), announced the
unprecedented P616.7 billion in investments approvals, the highest in the
agency’s 50-year history. The figure is up 39.5 percent from the P442B recorded
in 2016; and 23.5 percent over the P500 billion targeted at the start of 2017.
The BOI's previous highest approved
investment level was in 1997, recording P570.1 billion mainly from investments
due to the privatization and deregulation of public utilities (water supply and
telecommunications).
The record-breaking figure comprised 426
projects, up 13 percent from 2016’s 378 projects. All told, these projects will generate around
76,065 jobs upon full operations, up 12.5 percent from 2016's 67,634 jobs.
“This validates business confidence in
President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic programs to ensure inclusive growth and
shared prosperity for the country. The influx of investments is definitely
steamrolling, as we are expecting sustained higher investments for the next
five years," Lopez said.
“The momentum of our 6.9 percent GDP growth
in the third quarter and 6.7 percent overall growth for the first nine months
have definitely carried over in the fourth quarter, investment-wise and further
boosted with the frenzied economic activity given the holiday season,” he
explained.
At the start of the year, BOI targeted an
ambitious investment level of P500 billion by the end of 2017, or “P500 billion
for BOI@50,” to mark the agency’s 50th founding anniversary.
“We were happy then to just reach our P500
billion target. But to blitz past the P600 billion mark is something we are
definitely ecstatic as this only proves the continuing confidence of the
investors in making their business grow in the Philippines," added Lopez.
According to Trade Undersecretary and BOI
Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo, the surge in investments for the year are
mainly due to the designation of focused strategic sectors under the 2017
Investments Priorities Plan (IPP), infrastructure, and power projects; and the
strong growth of domestic demand.
With manufacturing as listed in the 2017 IPP,
investments were noted in key manufacturing industries such as cement, sugar,
and petrochem.
Investments in the manufacturing sector
increased more than three-folds to P96 billion in 2017 from only P27 billion in
2015. The figure is also 95 percent higher than the P49.259 billion reported in
2016.
The manufacturing sector is the third top
performing sector for 2017. Power and energy projects remain as the top
performing sectors with P268.168 billion in approved investments, followed by
infrastructure and PPP projects with P127.658 billion. Real estate and mass
housing projects ranked as fourth top performing industry with P86 billion
while transportation and logistics came in fifth with P15.909 billion.
“The increase in infrastructure projects this
year supports the BOI’s push for the growth in economic activities outside
Metro Manila and the ‘Build, Build, Build’ or the massive infrastructure
program of the administration,” Rodolfo said.
“While BOI incentives are directed for
strategic domestic projects, a number of foreign investment projects also
registered with BOI,” he said.
Japan is the number one source of foreign
investment projects for the year with P8.864 billion, mainly in green ship
recycling, chemicals, glass manufacturing, among others. This was followed by
Singapore with P3.497 billion, Australia with P1.996 billion, British Virgin
Islands with P1.084 billion – all in renewable energy, and The Netherlands with
P1.074 billion (manufacturing).
Following the deliberate effort to disperse
activities outside Metro Manila, a decrease by 53 percent in investments
approval were noted in National Capital Region (NCR). Meanwhile, a 65 percent
increase in investments were recorded in non-NCR areas.
Region IVA (CALABARZON) topped as the number
one destination for BOI-registered investments with P294.6 billion or 48
percent share of the total approved investments. Region III (Central Luzon)
followed with P123.3 billion while investments in NCR came only as third with
P44.3 billion. Substantial investments were noted in Region 1 (Ilocos Region)
with P39.6 billion and Region 7 (Central Visayas) with P35.6 billion.
Significant increases in investments were
noted in the regions. For example, investments in Region II (Cagayan Valley)
reached P14.011 billion or a P172 percent increase from only P5.151 billion
recorded in 2016. (BOI Infocomms)
Source: Philippine
International Agency. 19 December 2017
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