TOTAL investments registered to the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) declined by 10.8 percent in January to May, as onshore and offshore commitments averaged a double-digit slump.
Pledges to the BOI in the first five months expanded by 18.9 percent to P207.48 billion, and accounted for 82.5 percent of total investments committed for the period.
However, fresh projects approved by the Peza in the five-month stretch were down by 59.1 percent to P44.12 billion, from P107.75 billion in the same period last year.
Moreover, onshore and offshore investment pledges averaged a double-digit slowdown from January to May. Local pledges declined by 9.9 percent, while foreign pledges fell by 17.9 percent, largely due to double-digit plunges from the country’s top investment partners.
Investments from the United States and the United Kingdom—second- and third-largest sources of foreign pledges—slowed by 12.8 percent and 55.9 percent, respectively. The next top origins of offshore commitments, Singapore and the Netherlands, had 76.4 percent and 84.2 percent slumps, accordingly.
On the other hand, Japan remained the country’s largest source of investment pledges. It applied P12.75 billion of investments in the January-to-May period, nearly fourfold the P3.3 billion it poured in for the same months in the previous year.
Once in full swing, the projects are estimated to generate 57,627 jobs.
The electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply industry remained to be the top recipient of pledges, accounting for 42.4 percent of the applied investments. Commitments to the industry grew by 146.3 percent to P106.63 billion from January to May.
Transportation and storage also improved by 320.3 percent to P39.89 billion, and was the second-largest recipient of investment pledges. Real estate activities and manufacturing came next at P37.05 billion and P34.95 billion, respectively—the former contracted by 72.7 percent, the latter expanded by 2.2 percent.
Water supply, sewerage and waste management accelerated to P13.87 billion in the first five months from P88 million in the same period last year. Pledges to construction and public-private projects, however, fell by 85.3 percent; administrative and support service activities by 2.3 percent; and agriculture, forestry and fishing by 24.8 percent.
The BOI is targeting to grow investment pledges to an all-time high of P680 billion this year. The Peza, for its part, is seeking a conservative 10-percent growth.