Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Tereso Panga (File photo)
MANILA – The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) targets to approve PHP250 billion in investments in 2024.
In a press briefing in its headquarters in Pasay City Friday, PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the investment promotion agency (IPA) wants a return to its peak level where it approved PHP300 billion worth of projects.
“We’re looking at PHP202 billion in investments by 2024... I would say, it’s still conservative. We really want to target PHP250 billion plus because this will bring us back to the peak levels of PEZA during the time of Atty. (Lilia) de Lima, when we were getting PHP250 (billion to) PHP300 billion,” Panga said.
The lower end of the approvals target next year is 15 percent higher while the high-end target is 42 percent higher than the PHP175.71 billion investment pledges that PEZA registered this year.
Panga is optimistic about the IPA’s performance next year as there are big-ticket projects in the pipeline, such as economic zone development and electric vehicle manufacturing, among others, that are up for approval in the early part of 2024.
Panga added that PEZA aims to sustain the upward trajectory of investments next year, supported by growing interests from investors from Australia, China, South Korea, which the country has free trade agreement with, and the European Union, wherein the Philippines benefits from the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus.
He also noted that the outbound mission of PEZA, including the official foreign trips of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., contributed to the heightened interests of foreign companies in exploring business opportunities in the Philippines.
PEZA got investment pledges worth PHP1.4 billion during its outbound mission in the United States from Jan. 4 to 14, PHP10.8 billion from an outbound mission in Japan with Junca Holdings, PHP8.32 billion in China on Sept. 14 to 21, PHP20.6 billion from the Taiwan mission on Oct. 23 to 27, and PHP1.8 billion from United Arab Emirates from the Nov. 6 to 10 outbound mission.
The IPA also accompanied President Marcos during his visit to Tokyo, Japan on Feb. 8 to 12, when the delegation bagged investment pledges amounting to PHP720.91 billion.
Meanwhile, PEZA’s highest investment approvals was in 2012 with project registrations amounting to PHP312 billion, followed by PHP295 billion in 2015 and PHP279 billion in 2014.
De Lima headed PEZA from 1995 to 2016, spanning four administrations. (PNA)
