PH seeks e-vehicle, AI investments from US, Japan to spur growth

MANILA  —The Philippines is courting more investors from the United States and Japan as part of efforts to sustain the growth momentum recorded last year.

“Part of our preparations is to aggressively reach out to (electronics manufacturing service firms) and (semiconductor manufacturing service companies) not just in the US, but even in Japan,” Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) Director General Tereso O. Panga on Thursday said.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Panga said the Philippines sent a delegation to Las Vegas, Nevada, to participate in the Consumer Electronics Show 2024 (CES 2024), which runs from Jan 9 to 12, to attract more tech investors.

“The CES is the biggest electronic event in the US participated by many emerging tech providers, latest innovators … and this is where we want to attract foreign investors to the Philippines by making our presence felt in such a kind of international forum,” Panga said.

Peza records showed the US was the country’s third largest source of investments, accounting for 14.82 percent of total investments in economic hubs.

Advanced manufacturing

“In this particular mission, we are eyeing advanced manufacturing, as well as electric vehicles, and mostly artificial intelligence-driven investments, which have huge potential in the Philippines for manufacturing,” Panga said of the country’s presence in CES.

READ: PH electronics exporters trim growth target for 2023

He said they were aware of the flat growth projected this year for the country’s electronic exports, but that they were already preparing for a projected expansion in 2025.

For 2024, the Peza is targeting P200 billion to P250 billion worth of investment approvals to sustain the growth momentum it recorded in 2023.

Last year, the investment promotion agency tallied a total of P175.7 billion worth of investments, marking a nearly 25-percent increase from the P140.7 billion recorded the prior year.

Peza-approved investments stood at P69.30 billion in 2021, P95.03 billion in 2020, P117.54 billion in 2019, and P140.2 billion in 2018.

READ: Peza beats 2023 investment target

‘More economic zones’

The Peza chief also said they were working on increasing the number of economic zones in the country, currently at 422, to drive economic growth.

“We hope that the proclamation process will lead to … the declaration of more economic zones, 30 at least yearly, so that we can spread the creation of economic zones nationwide,” he said.