BOI approvals rise 28%, PEZA down in 4 months

MANILA, Philippines — New projects registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) grew by over a quarter in the first four months, while investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) contracted by more than half on lingering concerns over the government’s second tax reform package.

Data provided by the BOI showed that its approved investment pledges from January to April this year surged 27.8 percent to P195.72 billion from P153.11 billion in the same period last year.

PEZA investment approvals, meanwhile, plunged by 58.6 percent to P39.09 billion from P94.39 billion in the same period last year.

A source earlier told The STAR that PEZA’s investment approvals dropped by double digits during the four-month period, and continued to do so as of end May.

PEZA is lamenting that its existing companies are affected by the continuing uncertainties brought about by the second installment of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.

Combined approved pledges from the country’s two biggest investment promotion agencies, meanwhile, fell 5.1 percent year-on-year in January to April. The registered projects are expected to generate 46,204 jobs.

For the four-month period, investments from both foreign and local investors dropped.

Foreign investments registered in both agencies declined 26.5 percent to P21.39 billion from P29.11 billion in the same period last year, while local investments slipped 2.3 percent to P213.41 billion from P218.39 billion in 2017.

Japan emerged as the biggest country source of the BOI-PEZA approved foreign investments during the period at P8.80 billion, which is a 261.8 percent improvement from the P2.43 billion investments pledged in the four-month period last year.

US was the second largest country source despite its investment commitments dropping 20.8 percent year-on-year to P2.86 billion.

Investment pledges from China and South Korea, on the other hand, rose 195 percent and 185 percent year-on-year to P780 million and to P290 million, respectively.

In terms of projects, the biggest amount was committed to electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply at P104.35 billion or 44.4 percent of the total.

Transportation and storage projects followed with P37.52 billion, real estate activities with P32.86 billion, manufacturing with P29.66 billion, and water supply, sewerage and waste management with P13.87 billion.