MANILA — Investments registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) in the first nine months of the year have increased by 19 percent to PHP454.8 billion from only PHP381.2 billion worth of investment approvals during the same period in 2017.
BOI reported Thursday that the bulk of these investment pledges are in the sectors of energy, manufacturing as well as transport and logistics.
Registered investments in power sector improved by 49 percent to PHP168 billion in January to September 2018 from PHP112.8 billion in the same period last year.
Manufacturing projects registered with the BOI reached PHP104 billion in the first three quarters of the year, growing by 184 percent from PHP36-billion worth of pledges in 2017.
The largest growth was posted by transport and logistics investments which registered a total of PHP102 billion worth of projects, surging by 569 percent from PHP15 billion in the previous year.
“Investor confidence in the country remains high. The Philippines continues to attract more investments because the economy is strong enough to withstand challenges on both the domestic and international fronts,” Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez said in a statement.
Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo noted that the agency is confident to hit its PHP680-billion investment approvals this year.
“As of September, we are already surpassing expectations with already two-thirds of our year-end target and the rest of the year should be pretty exciting and challenging due to the deluge of big projects in the pipeline. We are just exercising due diligence to ensure that these projects comply with the necessary requirements,” Rodolfo added.
Meanwhile, investment pledges from foreign sources also jumped 196 percent to PHP37 billion in January to September 2018 from PHP12.5 billion in the same period last year.
Top foreign sources of these investments include the British Virgin Islands registering PHP15.2-billion worth of projects; Indonesia with PHP6.4 billion; Malaysia with PHP2.9 billion; Japan with PHP2.6 billion; and China with PHP1 billion. (PNA)
