PEZA bullish on Japanese firms investments in ecozones

By Kris Crismundo, 18 May 2021

MANILA – An official of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said the agency remains optimistic on investments from Japanese companies despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

In his personal social media account, PEZA deputy director general Tereso Panga shared that Japanese firms invested PHP716.22 billion from 1995 to April 2021, accounting for 27 percent of the total PHP2.63-trillion investment approvals in PEZA for the past 26 years.

“When it comes to ecozone FDI (foreign direct investment), the Japanese have always been ‘ichi-ban’ or number one investor of PEZA,” Panga said. “Given the current 27-percent share and steady increase of Japanese ecozone investments even amid pandemic, we remain bullish that the Japanese will continue to be our number one investor in PEZA, not only this year but for many years to come.”

He said Japanese investments to the country can be further boosted by tapping more into the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA) to improve market access to Japan.

Another prospect for the Philippines in getting more Japanese investors is the policy of the Japanese government to subsidize its China-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large export manufacturers to exit the Chinese market, he added.

Panga said with the enactment of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprise (CREATE) into law, the Philippines becomes competitive in attracting new FDI with the reduction of corporate income tax to 25 percent from the previous rate of 30 percent.

“But this will have to be complemented by better governance, more stable economic policymaking, quality labor, adequate infrastructure, and overall ease of doing business in order for the Philippines to improve its FDI performance and keep up with competition for FDI attraction vis-a-vis Asean top 5 economies,” he said. (PNA)