Investment pledges pile up 13% in Q1

Unusual for an election year 

MANILA, Philippines - Investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) soared 13 percent in the first quarter of the year, an unusual trend during an election year, a Trade official said.

The BOI approved P61.94 billion worth of investments in the first three months of 2016, up 13 percent from the P54.62 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The investment approvals were for 73 projects from various sectors. The investments are expected to create at least 12,841 in new jobs when the projects are fully operational.

Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said the robust inflow of investments into the country is a testament of investors’ continuing confidence in the government and the Philippine economy.

“The trend is investments usually slow down during an election year because investors are on a wait and see. But now it’s different,” Rodolfo said.

BOI attributed the higher approved investments during the quarter to big-ticket energy-related projects which accounted for the largest share of investment commitments at P29.34 billion or 47 percent of the total.

Approved energy-related projects in the three-month period this year are 113 percent higher than the P13.8 billion investment recorded in the same period in 2015.

Investments in real estate projects, particularly economic and low-cost housing surged 96.56 percent from P9.1 billion in the first three months of 2015 to P17.87 billion in the same period this year.

Real estate investment projects made up for 29 percent of the total approved investments in the period, the BOI said.

The agency said other projects during the January to March 2016 period came from transportation and storage with P9.22 billion, manufacturing with P4.78 billion, and accommodation and food services activities sector with P350.69 million.

Local investments accounted for 86 percent of the total BOI investment approvals in the first quarter amounting to P53.49 billion, while the remaining 14 percent came from foreign sources which reached P8.45 billion.

BOI said Netherlands was the country’s top investors during the period with P5.95 billion worth of approved investments which accounted for 70 percent of the total.

Investments from the US came next at P604.54 million, followed by the United Kingdom (P505.49 million), Singapore (P294.13 million), and China (P141.64 million).

Meanwhile, the National Capital Region topped the list of regions that received the highest total investments worth P19.87 billion followed by Region 1 with an investment commitment worth P14.73 billion.