Peza projecting 10% growth in investments in 2023

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) sees a 10-percent growth in investment registration next year after posting a record increase this year.

“We are looking at 10 percent. This is based on the initial locator sector target,” Peza Officer-in-Charge and Director General Tereso Panga told the Inquirer when asked about their outlook for 2023.

“We remain bullish given the big-ticket projects that we will register in 2023,” he added, citing incoming investments from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea as a result of recent investment promotion missions in those countries during the latter part of this year.

The Peza official also cited the investment opportunities that could come from President Marcos’ upcoming visit to China, saying they were already looking at several sectors where both economies could cooperate further.

Panga said there were bright prospects in the areas of electric vehicles, renewable and clean energy, mineral processing and agro-processing.

He also expects the information and communications technology (ICT) sector to continue a robust performance, citing economic zone developer projects in the pipeline as growth drivers.

The investment promotion agency will be coming from a record year, tallying P140.7 billion worth of approved investments from January to December, which is equivalent to a 103-percent increase from the P69.3 billion for full year 2021.

The Peza’s 2022 performance arrested four years of decline in approved investments.