PEZA approved investments down 10% in Q3
Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) decreased by 10% year-on-year in the third quarter as global economic uncertainties worsened.
According to data released by the agency, the PEZA board approved 58 new and expansion projects in the July to September period worth about P17.142 billion (US$290 million). This figure is 10.46% lower than the P19.145 billion (US$324 million) in the same period last year.
PEZA OIC Tereso Panga said that the decline can be attributed to the lower baseline for investments approved last year and the surging cost of fuel in the global market due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
The agency added that the new projects are expected to generate $877.807 million worth of exports and create 13,904 jobs.
“Among the approved new and expansion projects, 21 will be for export, 19 for information technology (IT), seven for facilities, and three for tourism,” PEZA added.
The agency also approved eight ecozones in the countryside —- including three manufacturing ecozones in Cavite, Batangas, and Pampanga; two IT parks in Iloilo and Davao; and two agro-industrial zones in Iloilo.
Despite the y-o-y decline, Panga remains optimistic that the agency will achieve its six to seven per cent investment target for 2022 as they expect more big-ticket projects in Q4.
In the first nine months of the year, PEZA approved P39.631 billion (US$672 million) worth of investments from 148 new and expansion projects, down 22.60% from P51.203 billion (US$868 million) recorded in the same period last year.
