BOI: Investment pledges rise to P454.8B from Jan-Sept

Investment pledges grew to P454.8 billion in the first nine months of the year, the Board of Investments (BOI) reported Thursday.

The increase is a 19-percent jump that recovers the momentum the agency lost in August.

The BOI also said in a statement this is higher than the P381.2 billion pledges registered from January to September 2017.

The latest pledges were propped up by manufacturing and energy investment commitments, which registered a huge turnaround from the 17.3 percent drop in pledges from January to August, according to BOI. 

“Investor confidence in the country remains high. The Philippines continues to attract more investments because the economy is strong enough to withstand challenges on both the domestic and international fronts,” Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez said.

Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo noted that that the investment promotion agency is already two-thirds of their year-end target of P680 billion. 

“As of September, we are already surpassing expectations with already two-thirds of our year-end target and the rest of the year should be pretty exciting and challenging due to the deluge of big projects in the pipeline,” he said. 

He added that BOI is just exercising due diligence to ensure that these projects comply with the necessary requirements.

The latest projects, the BOI said, included Petron Corp.’s P82-billion condensate processing complex project in Limay, Bataan as well as First Gen Corp.’s P62.6 billion liquefied terminal project.

Moreover, the BOI said there was also Pulangi Hydro Power Corp.’s P38-billion project to put up a 250 megawatts Hydroelectric Power Plant in Bukidnon. 

The BOI explained that the power-renewable energy sector continued its strong momentum to top all sectors with P168 billion in investment approvals as of September, up 49 percent from last year’s P112.8 billion.

The manufacturing sector, on the other hand, leaped 185 percent to P103.8 billion in Jan. to Sept. from P36.5 billion in 2017, according to BOI. 

The transportation and storage sector also continued on a roll with P102 billion, a 568 percent jump from last year’s P15.3 billion in the same period. 

The human health and social work activities sector, which include hospitals, obtained the highest growth with a 1,502 percent rise to P3.4 billion from just P210 million last year, the BOI said.  /kga