The Board of Investments (BOI) said it had received more than P304 billion worth of investment pledges in the first half of the year, marking a 27.4-percent increase from the level in the same period last year.
In a statement, the BOI said total pledges hit P304.4 billion as of June, up from P238.9 billion in the same six-month period in 2018.
At this rate, the BOI still has a long way to go before it reaches this year’s target of P1 trillion.
However, Trade Secretary and BOI Chair Ramon Lopez is still confident in hitting the target, which would mark a record breaking figure for the BOI.
“There are a lot of infrastructure [projects] in the pipeline. That’s why we’re still looking at the P1 trillion investment target,” he said in an interview.
He said the infrastructure and the power sectors were expected to drive pledges in the remaining half of the year.
In a separate interview, BOI Managing Head and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo cited other expected projects that would help the BOI reach its target, such as manufacturing.
Power projects in the first half cornered the lion’s share of the total investments with P192.4 billion, a 77.9-percent hike from last year’s P108.2 billion.
The BOI said that the resurgence of the manufacturing sector, meanwhile, continued with P45.3 billion to date, a 128.4-percent increase from P19.8 billion in January to June 2018.
Nearly all of the investments are in regions other than the National Capital Region (NCR).
Region IVA—Calabarzon— remains the most preferred location with P201.2 billion, followed by Region III—Central Luzon (P27.7 billion). NCR placed third (P11.3 billion), or 4 percent of the total figure. The rest of the top five are Region II—Cagayan Valley (P8.7 billion) and Region VII—Central Visayas (P7.7 billion).