Investment pledges increase to P174B

With the strong economy fueling the appetite of foreign companies seeking to set up operations here, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said approved investment pledges has soared to P174 billion by the end of October.

This was a 13 percent increase from the January to October period last year.

On the sidelines of the Nordic Ambassadors’ Luncheon Wednesday, Peza director general Lilia B. de Lima said this development would allow the agency to reinstate its original target of a 10 percent increase in the value of investments approved for the entire year. The outlook was changed to 8 to 9 percent in the middle of the year after Peza registered year-on-year declines for several months.

Data provided by Peza showed the number of projects approved as of end October inched up by 2.65 percent to 503 from only 490 projects in the same period last year. Direct employment, as a result of the investments, rose 8 percent to 1.24 million as of end-September.

Exports, meanwhile, dipped by 0.34 percent to $32.8 billion in the first nine months of the year from the $32.9 billion recorded a year ago.

De Lima said the Philippines will continue to aggressively woo investors. She noted increased interest from Nordic countries, namely Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

She said they are eyeing opportunities in the IT, manufacturing, energy, and  agri-business sectors.

There are currently 20 Nordic companies operating in Peza zones, of which 12 came in in the last five years, she said.

Peza earlier said it was optimistic of recovering potential investments it has lost to the port congestion woes of last year, when companies suffered from production delays and higher operational costs.