Foreign investment pledges dropped in Q4

Foreign investment pledges fell in the fourth quarter, when natural calamities hit the country and elicited concerns over their impact on the economy.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday that investments pledged by foreign entities and approved by concerned government agencies in the last three months of 2013 amounted to P132 billion, down by 42.7 percent year-on-year.

During the same period, the country was struck by two major calamities, namely the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu, Bohol and neighboring provinces, and Supertyphoon “Yolanda” that devastated central Philippines.

The natural calamities were initially feared to substantially slow down economic growth of the Philippines, which recently became one of the fastest growing in Asia.

The fears were proven wrong later on, when the government reported in January that the economy managed to exceed the official growth target for 2013 despite the calamities. The economy grew by 7.2 percent compared with the official target set at a range of 6 to 7 percent.

The major sources of foreign investment pledges during the last quarter of the past year were the British Virgin Islands, Japan and the Netherlands. They accounted for P46.1 billion, P29.4 billion and 14.4 billion, respectively, of the total.

The second sector that gathered the most investment pledges from foreigners was transportation and storage, which got P53.1 billion.

Manufacturing, and administrative services followed with P51.7 billion and P14.5 billion, respectively.

Investment pledges in the last quarter of 2013 brought the total for the year to P274 billion, down year-on-year by 5.4 percent.

The investment pledges were approved by the Board of Investments, Clark Development Corp., Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, BOI-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.

Government economic officials, however, have expressed confidence that the Philippines will generate more pledges and actual investments this year, especially with economic growth proving resilient despite natural calamities and uncertainties in the external environment.

For this year, officials said the economic growth target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent was achievable.

They also said investors were expected to take into account the country’s improved credit standing.

The Philippines secured investment grades from key international credit rating agencies for the first time last year.

Fitch Ratings gave the country its first investment grade in March last year. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service followed in May and October, respectively.