BOI-approved projects surge 65% in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — The value of investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) jumped 65 percent in January to March this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data presented by Trade Secretary and BOI chairman Ramon Lopez during the meeting with President Duterte aired on Wednesday night showed investments approved by the board in the first quarter reached P137 billion compared to only P83 billion in the same period last year.

The approved investments would create 12,013 jobs, 13 percent higher than the 10,605 jobs a year ago.

“Registration for investments continues to grow despite this pandemic,” Lopez said.

Last year, total investments approved by the BOI reached P1.02 trillion, down 11 percent from the P1.14 trillion all-time high in 2019.

For this year, the BOI aims to approve P1.25 trillion worth of investments.

Lopez earlier said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing for the approval into law of the proposed Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) to help improve the business environment and make the country more attractive to investors.

CREATE, when approved, would reduce the country’s corporate income tax rate to 25 percent from the current 30 percent.

It will also bring changes to the country’s incentives system and allow qualified activities or projects to enjoy the incentives package for a maximum of 17 years, which include four to seven years of income tax holiday, and a five percent special corporate income tax rate based on gross income earned for 10 years, in lieu of all national and local taxes.

In addition, CREATE would give the President the flexibility to grant incentives for projects with at least P50 billion worth of investment, or would generate a minimum of 10,000 jobs.

CREATE just needs Duterte’s signature to become a law.

Apart from CREATE, other legislative measures which the DTI wants to be approved to entice investors to the country are the amended the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Public Service Act, and Foreign Investments Act.