BOI-listed investments up 205% in Q1

MANILA, Philippines – The Board of Investments (BOI) announced first quarter investments surged by 205 percent to P110 billion as energy projects continued to pour in.

At the same time, foreign direct investments (FDIs) for January and February went up by 135 percent to $727 million from $309 million during the same period a year ago.

“If the trend continues we will hit or even surpass the $3.5 billion FDI target,” Board of Investments (BOI) managing head Cristino L. Panlilio said in an interview. “We want to debunk (the notion) that the Philippines is not attracting FDIs.”

Panlilio said that the P110-billion investments will create 11,159 new jobs, 89 percent higher than the 5,893 jobs created during the first three months of 2010.

Panlilio, who is also a Trade undersecretary, said the big ticket investments are from renewable energy like the P14-billion ERC project. He said there were also several mass housing projects and Citynickel’s P2-billion mining project.

Meanwhile, the BOI has released a list of four projects worth P2.5 billion that received income tax holidays (ITH).

BOI said Celebes Coconut Corp. received ITH for its P38.6 million expansion project for the production of dessicated coconut.

The project involves the establishment of a new production line for desiccated coconut with a capacity of eight tons per eight-hour shift in the company’s facility in Barangay Banza, Butuan City. This complements the existing facility which has been in operations since 2002 and is already churning out close to its full annual capacity of 7,587 MT. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star)