BOI investments in ’13 rise 12% to P403.17B

Investment commitments approved by the Board of Investments rose by 12 percent to P403.17 billion in 2013 from the P360.35 billion recorded a year ago, boosted mainly by the growing number of power generation projects in the pipeline.

These investments involve 281 projects, which are expected to generate 37,885 jobs once these become fully operational, said Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr.

In a briefing Friday, Cristobal said the target for next year is to attract “quality investments” that will generate stable and decent jobs for the local workforce.

Among the priority sectors being pushed are manufacturing and agriculture, he added.

Of the total approved investments for this year, pledges from domestic firms comprised 74 percent or P298.24 billion, while the remaining 26 percent or P104.93 billion are foreign investment commitments.

Leading the list of foreign country sources for 2013 was the British Virgin Islands (BVI) with investments amounting to P45.80 billion, representing 44 percent of total foreign pledges approved for the year.

The United States came in second with investments amounting to P41.76 billion, followed by Netherlands (P5.98 billion); South Korea (P2.26 billion); and Australia (P1.82 billion).

BOI data also showed that the investment approvals for 2013 were topped by big power projects of Energy City Philippines Holdings Inc (P45.8 billion); US-based GNPower Ltd. Co. (P41.23 billion), which will operate two 150-megawatt coal fired power plant in Bataan; and Pagbilao Energy Corp. (P39.9 billion), which will put up a 400-MW coal-fired power plant in Quezon province.