FOREIGN investment pledges approved by the country’s Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) expanded by 60.2 percent in the second quarter, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Data showed that these investments approved by six IPAs amounted to P49.6 billion in 2019, higher than the P30.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The six IPAs were the Authority of the Freeport Area Bataan, Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza).
“[This] was 60.2 percent higher compared with the same period in the previous year. No report was submitted by the BOI-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” PSA said.
Data from the agency also showed that the total approved foreign investments for the first six months of the year reached P95.6 billion, more than double last year’s P45.2 billion.
The top 3 prospective investing countries in the second quarter are Singapore with P36.2 billion, or 73 percent of the total approved foreign investments; Japan, P4 billion; and the Netherlands, P1.3 billion.
PSA data showed that the Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply sector received the biggest chunk of foreign investments in the April-to-June period. Foreign investment commitments for the sector stood at P35.7 billion, or 72 percent of the total.
Manufacturing came in second with investment pledges valued at P6.1 billion, followed by Administrative and Support Service Activities followed with P3.1 billion.
Projects in Region 4A, or Calabarzon, received the biggest chunk of foreign investments at P41.4 billion, or 83.4 percent of the total.
This was followed by the National Capital Region with P4.2 billion and Region 3 with P1.8 billion.
Total investment pledges of foreign and Filipino nationals during the period reached P107 billion, lower by 6.7 percent from previous year’s P114.7 billion.
This brings the total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals to P381.2 billion in the first half, 27.1 percent higher than the P299.8 billion committed in the previous year. More than half or 53.7 percent of these pledges were made by Filipino nationals.
PSA said more than half, or 57.4 percent of the investment commitments of foreign and Filipino nationals for the second quarter, were coursed through the BOI.
The BOI’s approved investments declined by 29.3 percent to P61.4 billion in the second quarter, from last year’s P86.8 billion.
Peza contributed the second largest share of investments at P39.2 billion. The figure is 75.5 percent higher than the P22.4 billion recorded last year.
The remaining IPAs collectively accounted for 6 percent of the total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals during the period.