Q1 BOI investment registration up 60%

The Board of Investments (BOI) saw investment pledges it had approved in the first quarter jump by 60 percent to P243 billion from year-ago level, recovering the drop seen last February.

This is higher than the P152.1 billion reported in the same quarter a year ago, the BOI said in a statement.

The latest figure marked a quick and solid recovery from the 23-percent decline in pledges in the first two months of the year. In February alone, pledges fell by 95 percent to only P3.8 billion.

The BOI did not say how much was approved for March alone. However, it had a relatively lower base in March last year when investment registration dropped by 50.91 percent to P20.507 billion.

Domestic investments accounted for the bulk of the projects at P212.2 billion, up 40 percent from last year’s P151.3 billion. Foreign investments amounted to P30.8 billion.

“After generating a record-breaking P915 billion in approved investments last year, we are still sustaining the momentum this year due to steady, strong and positive investor sentiment here and abroad,” said Trade Secretary and BOI Chair Ramon Lopez.

“We expect the growth to continue for the rest of the year as we aim to approve at least P1 trillion in total investments,” he added.

The BOI did not say which specific projects helped recover the momentum lost in February. However, it said electricity and power projects accounted for the majority of the pledges in the first quarter with P148 billion.

Manufacturing projects accounted for P43 billion while information and communications technology had P33.2 billion.

Downplaying the drop in February, Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said in a previous statement that key projects were in the pipeline.

In the BOI statement, he noted the stringent evaluation process these projects had to undergo.
“For the power projects for instance, aside from technical and financial assessment and demand gap evaluation, we require official endorsement of the Departments of Energy and of the Environment and Natural Resources,” he said.