Peza-registered investments up 44% in May

SOARING During the first five months the value of investments in economic zones increased by a high 44 percent from a year ago, according to PEZA. AFP file photo

The value of investments registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority reached close to P67 billion in the first five months, 44.5 percent higher than the P46.4 billion committed in the same period last year.

According to Peza data, the number of projects registered in January to April was also higher at 192, from 159 a year ago.

Export value registered by locators in economic zones rose by 7.3 percent to $13.6 billion, from $12.7 billion in the same period last year. Jobs created by by Peza-registered enterprises reached 790,831, up 17.7 percent from last year’s 671,745 people.

Peza Director General Lilia de Lima said about half of the investments, exports and jobs created in Peza zones came from companies in the semiconductor and electronics sector.

One of the largest investments approved during the period was that of Danish firm Sonion, a designer of miniature components for hearing instruments, in-ear earphones and high-end headsets, she said.

The bulk of the investment commitments in May involved expansion of existing projects.

For the entire year, she said Peza would be maintaining its target of jacking up investments, exports and employment by 10 percent.

“Please bring your projects here. In Asia, (the Philippines is) the best place to invest in. Our labor costs are competitive. While our power costs are still high, the Aquino administration is doing its best to solve our power problems, which we hope will result in lower power rates by 2012,” De Lima said in a speech at the opening of the Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition Wednesday.

Coming from a recent trip to Japan, she said a number of businesses from Hamamatsu, Tokyo, and other parts of Japan would be visiting the country within the year to see what the Philippines had to offer as an investment location.

She declined to name the Japanese firms that expressed interest to locate here, saying only that one of them was a wig manufacturer and another, an electronics company. Other companies were in the agro-industrial and tourism sectors.

The possibility of these companies actually putting up facilities in the Philippines was quite high, De Lima said, considering that Japanese managers in Asian countries had only one problem with the Philippines: lack of sources of raw materials and parts.

According to a survey conducted by the Japan External Trade Organization late last year, more issues were identified in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam than in the Philippines.

In China, for example, the survey showed Japanese managers having problems with the increase in employee wages, growing competitor market share, and higher procurement costs.

The list was much longer for Indonesia and Vietnam, which had 11 and eight identified issues, respectively.