Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
The country’s economic environment failed to lure more foreign investments in the first quarter of this year, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The PSA reported Thursday, May 16, that the total approved foreign investments from January to March fell by 63.6 percent to P148.43 billion from P408.22 billion in the same period last year.
The decline was registered after eight investment promotion agencies (IPAs) of the government reported zero approval during the quarter.
These IPAs were Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM), Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC), Poro Point Management Corporation (PPMC), Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority
The P13.5 billion worth of foreign investment approvals were only from five IPAs, namely Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
The FI commitments for the first quarter were mainly driven by investments from Singapore, which accounted for 47.2 percent of the total approved FI, followed by the Netherlands (26.2 percent) and South Korea (13.6 percent),” PSA said.
Singapore committed P70.06 billion while Netherlands and South Korea pledged P38.89 billion and P20.23 billion, respectively.
In the first quarter, power supply bested all other industries in terms of foreign investments with P109.19 billion worth of pledges, equivalent to 73.6 percent of total.
Accommodation and food service service activities came in second with investment commitments valued at P20.09 billion or 13.5 percent share, followed by manufacturing with P12.62 billion or 8.5 percent contribution.
CALABARZON still received the biggest chunk of the approved foreign investment in the first quarter amounting to P117.39 billion, followed by Central Luzon with P23.83 billion (16.1 percent) and Bicol region with P2.86 billion (1.9 percent).
Approved investment of foreign and Filipino nationals reached P309.45 billion in the first quarter, a decline of 35.6 percent compared with P480.48 billion a year earlier.
Filipino nationals contributed P161.03 billion or 52.0 percent investments. Total approved projects were projected to generate 27,711 employment.
Out of the total anticipated employment for the period, approved projects with foreign interest were projected to generate 17,994 employment based on the reports of IPAs.
Earlier, the PSA reported that the country’s economy accelerated by 5.7 percent in the first quarter, lower than the 6.4 percent in the same period last year and the target band of 6 percent to 7 percent for this year. — Xander Dave Ceballos
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
