Investments plunge in H1 amid global recession

MANILA – Investments committed with the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) plunged by 71.6% in the first half of the year due to the global economic slump.

A report released by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said investments registered with the two agencies fell to P79.68 billion in January to June 2009 from P280.81 billion in the same months last year.

However, DTI Secretary Peter Favila remains confident that the Philippines would still meet its investment growth target of 0-5% this year as the world economy begins to pull out of recession.

“There are positive signs of generally improving economic and financial conditions in most economies worldwide. Although at a snail’s pace, [the recovery] provides impetus for modest investment performance of the Philippines in 2009,” he said, noting that investments soared by 243% quarter-on-quarter to P61.7 billion at end-June.

During the first 6 months, 340 projects were approved by the BOI and PEZA, and these are expected to provide jobs to 55,533 workers.

The top 5 investments for the period include the 2 geothermal power projects of AP Renewables Inc. in Makban and Tiwi (P13.18 billion and P9.54 billion, respectively); 8 information centers and one incubation building in Baguio (P3.94 billion); mass housing projects of DMCI Project Developers (P3.02 billion); and the 17.5-megawatt biomass power generating plants of Green Power (P2.03 billion).

Local investors remained the major source of investments, accounting for P60.79 billion or 76 percent of the total in January to June. The rest were infused by foreign investors led by Hong Kong businessmen (P3.91 billion), followed by Japanese, Americans and British with P3.32 billion, P3.16 billion and P2.2 billion, respectively.

In the second quarter, DTI Undersecretary for Industry and Investments Elmer Hernandez said projects were mainly in the utilities, IT, and manufacturing sectors.–abs-cbnNEWS.com