MANILA – Total foreign investment pledges approved in the third quarter of the year increased by 109.3 percent, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
In a report released on Tuesday, the PSA said investment pledges during the period amounted to PHP27.30 billion, up from last year's PHP13.05 billion.
The PSA said these investment pledges were from investment promotion agencies (IPAs) which include the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority.
"No foreign investment approvals were reported by the BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM), Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), Poro Point Management Corporation and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority," the PSA said.
The Bases Conversion and Development Authority and John Hay Management Corporation, which are the latest addition to the list of IPAs covered by this report, also had no approved foreign investments in the third quarter of 2023.
The PSA said Singapore posted the highest investment commitment amounting to PHP13.04 billion, followed by Taiwan at PHP3.63 billion and United Kingdom at PHP3.06 billion.
Manufacturing received the biggest amount of pledges at PHP16.43 billion followed by administrative and support service activities with PHP4.28 billion, and real estate activities with PHP4.22 billion.
Among the regions in the country, Calabarzon received the largest share of pledged investment amounting to PHP14.56 billion.
This was followed by Central Luzon with PHP6.13 billion and Central Visayas with PHP3.87 billion.
The PSA, meanwhile, said the total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals amounted to PHP83.50 billion, down by 47.6 percent from the PHP159.38 billion in the same quarter last year.
Filipino nationals contributed PHP56.19 billion or 67.3 percent share.
Approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals were expected to generate a total of 22,571 employment. (PNA)
