PEZA investment approvals double to P33 billion in 4 months  

MANILA, Philippines — Investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) more than doubled in the four months of the year to P33.094 billion, driven by strengthened investment promotion and facilitation efforts.

In a statement yesterday, PEZA director general Tereso Panga reported that the PEZA approved a total of 60 new and expansion projects worth P33.094 billion from January to April, up  107.15 percent from the P15.975 billion approved investments in the same period last year.

The  projects are also expected to generate about $1.012 billion exports and create 7,469 direct jobs.

In April alone, approved investments amounted  to P20.56 billion, 162.37 percent higher than the P7.834 billion recorded  in the same month last year.

A total of 14 new and expansion projects were greenlighted in April, which are expected to create 2,233 jobs.

Among these 14 projects, seven are into logistics service enterprises, four are into export manufacturing, and three into IT enterprises.

These projects are located in Baguio, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Cebu and South Cotabato.

“The biggest project pre-qualified by the PEZA board for FIRB (Fiscal Incentives Review Board) approval is engaged in the manufacturing of biomass fuel products made from buyo-buyo (Piper aduncum-shrub), with investments worth P19.7 billion,” the PEZA said.

“We believe that we are now reaping the results of the ongoing investment missions of President Marcos and his administration’s investment initiatives and it is now up to us to follow through the pledges,” Panga said.

“We remain positive that more investments will come to the Philippines with the big-ticket investments that we secured during the President’s visits to Japan, US, and Switzerland among others,”he added.

The investment promotion agency emphasized that the $1.3 billion in investment pledges and 6,700 jobs generated from the President’s recent trip to the US is an indication of American investors’ renewed interest in the country.

“The business environment is notably better within the special economic zones, particularly those available for export businesses operated by PEZA, known for its regulatory transparency, no red-tape policy, and one stop shop services for investors,”the PEZA noted, quoting a statement by the US Department of State on the investment climate statement in the Philippines

With the recently working visits of the President and his key cabinet and business delegation to the US, UK, Indonesia, Panga expressed hope for attracting foreign direct investments in advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles industry, renewable energy development, mineral processing, regenerative agriculture, and frontier technologies particularly in digital health, finantech, blockchain, artificial intelligence and big data—to boost our mix of industries and value-adding in the ecozones.

Moreover, the PEZA also reported that a total of $15.753 billion worth of actual exports were recorded in the first quarter of the year.

“In March alone, we have generated $5.396 billion export revenues which account for 82.65 percent of the total country’s $6.528 billion exports in March this year,” Panga said.