Marcos Jr.’s trips yield $23.6B in investment pledges

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent visits to five countries have yielded $23.6 billion in investment pledges, Malacañang said Friday, citing the year-end accomplishment report of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said these were the President’s trips to Indonesia in September, the United States also in September, Singapore in October, Cambodia in November, and Thailand also in November.

[This is as the administration gears toward aggressively attracting more foreign businesses to come to the Philippines,” the OPS said.

It added that the DTI Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) had a combined approved investments of P402 billion, which, OPS said, could generate 54,217 local jobs.

Under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, the BOI’s approved projects as of August this year stand at P46.7 billion, with the investment promotion agency also assisting 1,994 investors wanting to do business in the country.

The BOI also generated 90 foreign investment leads with an estimated value of P204.9 billion that could create 98,393 local jobs, Malacañang said.

According to the Palace, the DTI also reported $17.7 billion worth of exports in services, up by 13.5 percent from the previous record.

The country also recorded $58.3 billion exports in goods, which grew by 4.7 percent.

The DTI also assisted 3,922 exporters.

“The department indicated that the country’s investment and exports are expected to rebound next year as a result of the passage of the Public Service Act (PSA) and CREATE Act,” the OPS said.

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