Foreign investment pledges up 60% to P49.6 billion in Q2

by Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star), Sept 7, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign investment commitments approved by six of the country’s seven investment promotion agencies jumped to P49.6 billion in the second quarter of the year, with the bulk of pledges originating from Japan, the Netherlands and Singapore, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The figure was 60 percent higher compared to the P30.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.

These cover commitments cleared by the Authority of the Freeport Area Bataan (AFAB), Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) as well as Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

The BOI-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BOI-ARMM) did not submit a report during the period.

This brings the total approved foreign investment commitments for the first six months of the year to P95.6 billion, more than doubled from P45.2 billion the previous year.

The top three prospective investing countries in the second quarter are Singapore, Japan and the Netherlands.

Pledges from Singapore reached P36.2 billion while investors from Japan and Netherlands committed P4.0 billion and P1.3 billion, respectively.

By economic sector, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply would receive the largest amount of foreign investments in the second quarter of the year with commitments totalling P35.7 billion or 72 percent.

Manufacturing came in second with investment pledges valued at P6.1 billion or a 12.4 percent share. Administrative and support service activities followed at P 3.1 billion or a 6.3 percent share.

The biggest approved foreign investments in the second quarter, amounting to P41.4 billion, would be intended to finance projects in Region IVA – CALABARZON.

The second biggest, amounting to P4.2 billion, was pledged to NCR – National Capital Region. Region III – Central Luzon followed with P1.8 billion or 3.7 percent of approved investments.

Investment commitments from both foreign and Filipino nationals reached P107 billion in the second quarter, down by 6.7 percent from the previous year’s P114.7 billion.

Filipino nationals shared 53.7 percent of the total investment pledges during the quarter.