Ecozone investments rise to P222B

Investment commitments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) rose by 5 percent to P222 billion in the first 11 months of the year as more foreign firms locates their manufacturing facilities in the country.

In the same period last year, the investment commitments approved by Peza stood at P211 billion, according to Elmer San Pascual, group manager of the promotions and public relations group of Peza.

San Pascual said these investments were being put in proposed manufacturing projects, specifically for electronics and semiconductor, transport and car parts, precision instruments, beverage, electrical machinery, fabricated metals and chemical products. Other investments were for IT services and ecozone developments, he added.

As of end-October this year, exports from Peza-managed ecozones grew by 4 percent to $36.84 billion from $35.4 billion in the same period last year, San Pascual said.

Peza has managed to inch closer to its target of approving P299 billion worth of investments for 2014. This target was based on the agency’s performance in the previous years with significant consideration of the global market situations and factors. These included the movement of electronics products and devices in the world market, growth of the global automotive industry, upgrading of electronic and electrical machinery, modernization of fair equipment and continuing upgrading of medical devices.

The agency has been aggressive this year in its efforts to woo more foreign companies to locate here as it embarked on a number of trade missions abroad as well as initiatives that will help ease doing business in the ecozones.

One such initiative allowed Peza to sign the visas of expatriates working within the economic zones, a move that will not only further ease doing business in the country, but will be able to attract more foreign investments as well. Peza was already given the green light by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Peza director general Lilia de Lima earlier explained that there was already an agreement in principle that Peza could sign the visas on behalf of the immigration bureau. The agency is preparing all the groundwork for this project.

According to De Lima, they expected to start implementing this new scheme by the first quarter of next year as they were still threshing out the finer details, which included the need to put in place the necessary manpower and fail-safe measures to ensure that the authority given to the Peza will not be subjected to any kind of abuse. There is also a need to comply with the various administrative requirements to set all the necessary processes in place. A circular or an order may then be issued by Peza.

Peza is allowed to process the visa applications of expatriates working for companies located within the Peza-managed ecozones, but the visas will still be issued by the Bureau of Immigration.