Peza investment pledges down 27%

Investment pledges at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) dropped 27 percent in the seven months to July to P52.01 billion from P71.21 billion a year ago as the agency struggled to get new investors in the middle of a pandemic.

The latest figures came as the economy plunged into recession in the second quarter, marking its worst drop on record after the gross domestic product fell by 16.5 percent.

Despite this, Peza Director General Charito Plaza said the Peza remained hopeful that it could bounce back. “We have to treat this crisis as both a lesson and an opportunity. Peza continues to attract investors to come and invest [in] the Philippines despite the crisis,” she added.

The agency did not provide a full breakdown of the seven-month investment pledges. However, it said that the manufacturing sector had P23.34 billion in investment pledges, a 24-percent increase from the P18.77 billion recorded from January to July last year.

The IT-BPO sector had P11.4 billion in investment pledges, 37-percent higher than the P8.32 billion in the comparative period in 2019.

When asked for a realistic target for 2020, Plaza said in a July television interview that they were expecting only half of year-ago figures. Last year, Peza registered P117.5 billion in pledges, putting this year’s target at P58.75 billion. INQ