BOI, PEZA investments hit P503 billion in 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Combined investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reached P503.39 billion in 2010 as the electronics and manufacturing sector continued to remain strong.

For this year, the government is looking at a four percent investment growth to P521.54 billion. This year’s target growth is slower than the double-digit jump seen last year.

In an interview, Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said that 2010 has been a banner year for the Board of Investments (BOI) as investments grew 93 percent while the other attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) – also overshot its 2010 investment target.

For this year, combined investments of PEZA and BOI are expected to hit P521.54 billion. The target of BOI is P296.7 billion while PEZA is P224.84 billion. The figure represents a 10 percent growth for PEZA.

Domingo, meanwhile, said that the BOI target for this year is lower than the actual investment. In 2010, investments from BOI-registered firms amounted to P299.39 billion. He said the investment target of BOI is to grow 15 percent over its original 2010 target of P258 billion.

PEZA Director General Lilia B. De Lima said the PEZA target for 2011 is to grow investments, exports and employment by 10 percent.

“We want to be conservative because we are coming from a very high base. The target is 10-10-10 which means 10 percent growth in investments, employment and exports,” De Lima explained. This figure is slightly slower than the growth recorded this year.

“There will be a tapering off of investments because we already got the big ticket investors,” De Lima said.

Investments this year grew by 17 percent to P204 billion from P175 billion in 2009. “This is the highest investment since 2001,” De Lima said.

“We are coming from a very high base. When others were posting a decline last year we had a growth,” De Lima noted.

For this year, she said they have exceeded their target of 15 percent growth because of the continued confidence of PEZA locators. Projects approved were 518 from the 502 a year ago.

Meanwhile, employment and export data was only for November because they receive the data a month late. De Lima said that average direct employment grew by 20.12 percent to 728,318 from 606,350 while export sales grew by 24 percent to $37 billion from $30 billion a year ago.

For BOI, Executive Director Lucita P. Reyes announced that as of Dec. 21, their investments already reached P299.39 billion, exceeding their P287 billion yearend target.

Reyes said that projects which are pending amounted to P1.4 billion. She said that there are still five projects that will be added to the yearend total.

On the other hand, Reyes said that in 2011, 57 projects will come in with a combined worth of P71 billion. “These applications have already been checklisted,” Reyes said. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star)