Ecozone investments up 31% to P70.96 billion in first 8 months

MANILA, Philippines - Investment commitments for the first eight months of the year jumped by 31.17 percent to P70.96 billion, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reported yesterday.

In a report, PEZA Director General Lilia B. De Lima said that total economic zone investments from January to August this year amounted to P 70.958 billion, 31.17 percent higher than approved investments for the same period last year which amounted to P54.094 billion. 

In terms of job generation, De Lima said that 58,260 direct jobs will be produced, up 11.14 percent from last year’s 52,421.    

The PEZA Board approved 332 projects consisting of 293 projects for locators for manufacturing and I.T. enterprises and 39 projects for developer/operator of economic zones.

De Lima said the investments were a mixture of the expansion of existing manufacturing and IT companies, agro economic zone, tourism areas and the investments of new investors. The new investments were mostly joint venture projects with Singaporean, American and Japanese firms.

Earlier, the D&B Business Optimism Survey showed that PEZA firms were less optimistic when compared to other firms.

Economist Victor A. Abola said the reason behind this is that PEZA firms are all export oriented while ordinary firms are domestically driven.

Unfortunately, for the third quarter, the study showed that inventory levels and new orders will drop. “More companies are expecting to lower their inventories.”

Abola noted that inventory levels is in the red at negative 13 percent because of the drop in construction and manufacturing sectors. These two sectors were adversely affected by the rainy season.