First quarter foreign direct investment commitments plummet

INVESTMENT pledges made by foreign entities fell by half in the first quarter, even as the number of jobs the commitments would generate is expected to rise, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said.

The agency said the projects approved by four investment promotion agencies (IPAs) reached P22 billion, down by 52.8 percent from P46.7 billion in the same three-month period last year.

The country’s IPAs are the Board of Investments (BOI), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

NSCB blamed the decline in the approved FDIs on the drop in investment applications from PEZA, CDC and SBMA.

The NSCB said the bulk of these investments was coursed through PEZA at P17.7 billion.

At far second was BOI at P 2.4 billion, while CDC and SBMA contributed P1.9 billion and P0.1 billion, respectively.

Only BOI posted an increase in FDI applications at 66.8 percent from last year’s P1.5 billion to this year’s P2.4 billion.

All other IPAs suffered double-digit declines with SBMA recording the highest decrease in FDI applications from last year’s P1 billion to this year’s P0.1 billion.

Despite the decline in FDI, the NSCB said a total of 32,582 jobs are expected to be generated from the projects approved by the four IPAs in the first quarter.

This was 25 percent higher than last year’s projected employment of 26,074 jobs.

PEZA-approved investment projects are expected to generate the most number of jobs at 28,074, followed by BOI with 4,115 jobs. CDC and SBMA had minimal shares of 0.9 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

The US led all other countries with investment pledges of P6.7 billion, accounting for 30.6 percent of total approved during the quarter, followed by Japan and Korea at P 4.7 billion, or 21.5 percent, and P3.8 billion, or 17.5 percent, respectively.

Manufacturing remained the top recipient of FDI commitments as it stands to receive P16.8 billion, lower than last year’s P42.9 billion.

Trailing behind are administrative and support service activities at P1.8 billion and real estate activities at P1.5 billion.

The combined approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached P161.9 billion in the first quarter, up by 76.5 percent from last year’s P91.8 billion. –DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times