THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said the country attracted P57 billion in investments from 181 projects in January to November.
Based on data provided by the investment promotion agency, this is a 11.50-percent decline from the P64.463-billion investments recorded in the same period last year.
PEZA said, however, it remains confident of hitting its target of growing approved investments by 6 to 7 percent until the end of this month.
“With two more board meetings scheduled this December, we are confident that we can achieve our target 6-7 percent increase in 2022 approved investments versus 2021,” PEZA Officer-in-Charge Director General Tereso O. Panga told reporters in a viber message on Tuesday.
As to the number of projects, PEZA said it has so far approved 181 new projects in the 11-month period this year. This is lower than the 229 projects approved in the same period in 2021.
Meanwhile, as of October 2022, PEZA said its direct employment rose by 4.62 percent to 1,850,842 from the 1,768,986 recorded in January to October last year.
The agency also noted that its exports increased by 4.68 percent to $54.239 billion in January to October, from the $51.814 billion exports recorded in the same period last year.
According to PEZA, P17.755 billion worth of investments or 31.12 percent of the total investments from January to November 2022 came from Japan, including top big-ticket projects by Shin-etsu Magnetics Philippines Inc., Cebu Mitsumi Inc., TDK Philippines Corporation, Tamiya (Philippines) Inc., and Philippine International Manufacturing and Engineering Services Corp. (P.IMES Corp.).
At the recent investment mission in Japan, the PEZA OIC pitched to Japanese firms PEZA’s being a “one-stop shop” investment promotion agency. The features of a one-stop shop include: ease of doing business; issuance of PEZA Visa; building and occupancy permits; environment clearance certificate; exemption from Local Government permits and fees.
Last month, PEZA announced it secured seven investment pledges for a total $65 million during its investment mission in Taiwan.
The agency said various Taiwanese firms expressed “serious interest” during the various business-to-business meetings in Taiwan last month.
This includes Asia Optical Co., Inc., a company that is into the scope of guns products. PEZA said this firm wants to put up an agro-industrial park with a 5-hectare ecozone area requirement, and with an estimated initial cost of investment at P1 billion. (Full story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/11/09/taiwan-roadshow-nets-peza-65m-in-investment-pledges/)