Ecozone projects vault 50% in Q1

MANILA, Philippines -   Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) soared by half in the first quarter, buoyed by the expansion of American manufacturing firms and local companies which are into industrial park development.

PEZA director general Charito Plaza on Tuesday said investment commitments approved by the agency for the January to March period surged 50.51 percent to P51.34 billion from P34.11 billion in the same period in 2016.

“A factor in this growth is that PEZA is very aggressive in getting more investors,” Plaza said.

PEZA promotion and public relations group manager Elmer San Pascual said bulk of the investment approvals in the first quarter were economic zone expansion of local firms.

“About a third of that is ecozone development. Aside from expanding existing ones, they are also looking for other economic zones for them to develop,” San Pascual said.

Also included in the first quarter approvals is manufacturing. A number of electronics and semiconductors companies are also expanding, he said.

In terms of foreign investors, San Pascual said Americans made the biggest number of investment commitments for the first three months.

Plaza said more investment pledges from foreign firms are expected to pour into the country in the coming months of 2017, particularly from China, Vietnam, and the Middle East.

“What we are hearing is that China and Vietnam have increased their tax and wage rate, which leaves the Philippines as a new attraction because we did not increase. Everything is status quo. There are also a lot of interest coming from the Middle East,” Plaza said.

“Then the climate, they feel safer now with the Duterte presidency and the government is cleaner so many companies and industries located in other countries are now expressing that they want to transfer to the Philippines,” she said.

PEZA’s investment commitments approved in 2016 amounted to P218.18 billion, 26 percent lower than the P295.09 billion posted in the previous year.

For 2017, PEZA has yet to come up with a firm growth target in investment pledges but it is eyeing “a big investment leap.”

With the new economic zones all over the country, Plaza earlier said the agency hopes to triple or quadruple investments this year.

PEZA currently operates 366 economic zones across the country, 74 of which are manufacturing zones, 250 are IT parks, 21 are agro-industrial zones, 19 are tourism zones, and two are medical tourism parks.