BOI-registered investments down 24%

Investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments fell by 24 percent to P354.5 billion this year, due to the lack of big-ticket energy projects as seen last year.

Despite the decline, however, there were more activities approved at 294 projects, which are expected to create about 58,619 jobs over the next several years.

Of the pledges, domestic investments approved by the BOI reached P317.69 billion, about 90 percent of the total, while the remaining 10 percent or P36.85 billion represented projects of foreign investors.

The electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply sector continued to record the biggest share of the total at P174.7 billion, followed by construction (P64 billion); mass housing (P47.7 billion); manufacturing (P24.5 billion); and transportation and storage ice sectors (P20.8 billion).

The biggest approved projects for the period included those of St. Raphael Power Generation Corp., which is investing P63.17 billion for two 350-megawatt coal facilities in Batangas; GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co., which is constructing a P50-billion 540-MW coal plant in Lanao del Norte, and Vertex Tollways Development Inc., which will pour in P23.43 billion for the construction of the Naia Expressway Phase 2.

The BOI said there was a 77.5- percent surge in the approved investment commitments for the manufacturing sector to P24.5 billion from P13.8 billion. All subsectors have registered triple digit increases led by food products, beverages, basic metals, motor vehicles, coke and refined petroleum products, fabricated metal products, and wood and wood products.

Huge increases in investment pledges were recorded in basic metals (6,651 percent); beverages (802 percent); electrical equipment (320 percent); rubber and plastic products (281 percent); and motor vehicles (269 percent). Other subsectors with increased investment approvals are in textiles (100 percent); paper and paper products (100 percent), and other nonmetallic mineral products (100 percent).