PEZA investment approvals down 30% in H1
Investment pledges within the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) dropped 30% to P22.49 billion (US$402 million) in the first half of 2022 from P32.06 billion a year ago.
These include a total of 90 projects with projected annual exports of $747.09 million and are expected to generate 14,354 direct job opportunities in the country.
According to PEZA, most of the investment pledges came from Japan and Singapore, amounting to P8 billion (US$143 million) and P2.17 billion (US$38 million), respectively. These were followed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
With the decrease in pledges during the January to June period, the ecozone authority adjusted its growth target for approved investments from 7-8% to 6-7%
PEZA Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning Tereso Panga said, “With the assumption of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., we hope to bounce back by [the] third quarter this year to exceed our investment approvals (in the April-June quarter.”
The usual top sources of ecozone investments are ecozone development, export manufacturing especially electronics and automotive, and information technology (IT) services.
PEZA is expected to present at least 50 applications for ecozone developer and locator projects to its board, which is meeting later this month.
