Pledged funds drop

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign investment pledges cleared by six of the country’s investment promotion agencies fell to P29.4 billion in the first quarter, in part because no commitments were approved by the Board of Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM).

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said yesterday that approved investment commitments in the first three months of the year were 36.2 percent lower compared with the P46 billion approved in the same period in 2019.

These commitments were cleared by the Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

Most of the foreign investment pledges for the first quarter were made by companies from the UK at P6.1 billion, which accounted for 20.9 percent of total; followed by the United States with P5.7 billion, making up 19.6 percent; and China, P4.9 billion or 16.7 percent of total.

Approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals in the first quarter were expected to generate 34,814 jobs, lower by 17.6 percent compared with the previous year’s projected employment of 42,245.

Out of these anticipated jobs, 89 percent would be created projects with foreign interest.

Most of these investment commitments will be dedicated to projects in manufacturing, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities, as well as real estate.