BOI-approved projects up 17% in 1st quarter

The value of projects approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) jumped 17 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015 to reach P54.6 billion, according to Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr.

Cristobal, who is also BOI managing head, said Friday in a press briefing that when fully operational, the 59 projects were expected to employ 18,174 people.

He said that while during comparative quarters of 2014 and 2013, the number of approved projects increased by five or about one-tenth, the number of expected jobs that would be created surged 65 percent.

“First-quarter numbers increased due to the approval of big-ticket projects that are related to the electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply sector,” Cristobal said.

He added that these included power generating plants as well as renewable energy projects, although he declined to name the projects, citing the proponents’ need for confidentiality.

Due to these high-value projects, BOI-registered investments during the quarter increased by 30 percent year-on-year to P13.8 billion.

Even then, BOI data show that the manufacturing sector performed best, ballooning by 517 percent to reach P12.9 billion.

When asked about expectations for the rest of the year, Cristobal said the outlook pointed to sustainable growth in investments considering that the government’s economic team was striving for domestic output to grow by 7 to 8 percent.

As for the BOI itself, Cristobal said the agency had not set a target growth rate for the year.

“What we are after is the quality of the investments and the accompanying jobs, but of course we want to increase [quantity],” he said. “We are happy with the first-quarter results.”

Cristobal said that the growth in manufacturing projects also reflected the results of the Manufacturing Resurgence Program (MRP), a government priority program that was initiated to push for a 30-percent increase in gross value added and a 15-percent increase in employment by 2025.

“The objectives of the MRP are being achieved with the help of the policies and strategies created under the Manufacturing Industry Roadmap,” he said.

Of the total investment approvals in the first quarter, 96 percent or P52.25 billion came from local investors. The remaining P2.38 billion was generated from foreign sources, with Singapore accounting for P1.41 billion.