-
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority has approved a total of P12.537 billion investments in the first quarter of 2023
-
The latest figure is 53.99% more than the P8.141 billion recorded in same period last year
-
The investments come from 42 new and expansion projects of economic zone locators and developer/operators approved
-
These projects are expected to generate US$ 616.585 million exports and 5,236 direct employment
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) approved 53.99% more investments in the first quarter this year amounting to P12.537 billion against the same quarter last year’s P8.141 billion.
The investments come from 42 new and expansion projects of economic zone locators and developer/operators. For March alone, the PEZA Board approved 12 new and expansion projects expected to bring in P2.343 billion worth of investments.
“This surge in investments that gained more than 50% in increase as compared to January to March 2022 is an indication that we are on the right track in achieving our 10% target this year,” PEZA director general Tereso Panga said in a statement.
Of the 42 projects approved in the first quarter of this year, 40 were locator projects with P8.188 billion investments and two developer projects having P4.349 billion. The 42 projects are 44.83% higher than the 29 projects approved in the first quarter of 2022.
These projects are expected to generate $616.585 million in exports and directly employ 5,236, up 165.25% and 65.28% respectively year-on-year.
Panga is confident the investment promotions agency can sustain the positive investment figures “in the coming months as we expect more inbound delegations of foreign investors.”
PEZA has been part of several investment missions abroad and has hosted several business missions since last year.
Panga noted that “among the recent leads from new ecozone locator applicants and inbound investors’ delegations are into vaccine and life sciences sector, new wave of EV [electric vehicle] battery technology, motorcycle manufacturing, integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services, regenerative agriculture, organic fertilizers and pesticides, healthcare, deep learning, fintech, and other frontier technologies, anaerobic waste water treatment, and LNG facilities.”
He said these “emerging technologies will complement the steady flow of investments in semicon-electronics manufacturing and IT services, which are the leading sectors in PEZA.”
RELATED READ: PEZA approves 21 projects worth P3.8B in Feb
