The Department of Trade and Industry continues to put up shared service facilities with partners. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Friday that it has an investment pipeline worth at least $76 billion (around P4 trillion), signaling a strong outlook for future investments and economic expansion in the country.
The government agency said the number is as of January and that it spans 247 investment leads.
“We are open for business, ready to welcome high-value investments, and drive innovation. Together, we are creating opportunities that uplift our people and propel the Philippine economy toward sustained growth,” Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said in a statement.
The DTI said that the projects are being spearheaded by its Foreign Trade Service Corps. with 51 projects already in advanced stages while 23 have already begun commercial operations.
READ: More than 200,000 new businesses registered with DTI in January
It added that 28 companies are either already registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or actively working with investment promotion agencies to finalize their entry into the Philippines.
The said investments span key sectors, including manufacturing, information technology and business process management, renewable energy, data centers, retail, agriculture, and telecommunications.
The DTI’s lead investment promotion agency, the Board of Investments, approved P1.62 trillion worth if investments in 2024, with the value increasing by nearly a third compared with the P1.26 trillion recorded in the previous year.
The value of approved investments had reached P1.26 trillion, in 2023, P729 billion in 2022, P655 billion in 2021, P1.02 trillion in 2020, and P1.14 trillion in 2019.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), another investment promotion agency under the DTI, saw its own soar to a seven-year high of P214.176 billion in the same year.
The value of Peza-approved investments was at P175.70 billion in 2023, P140.7 billion in 2022, P69.30 billion in 2021, P95.03 billion in 2020, P117.54 billion in 2019, and P140.2 billion in 2018.
Both the BOI and Peza are projecting the value of approved investments to grow around 10 percent this year.