THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said exports from the country’s export processing zones rose 21.5% to $17.864 billion from $14.669 billion during the same period last year.
PEZA director-general Lilia B. de Lima reported the private economic zones accounted for the bulk of total export earnings during the review period.
From January to July, total exports from the private economic zones amounted to $13.899 billion, up 26.25% from last year”s $11.009 billion.
De Lima said the four public economic zones exported $3.864 billion, posting a 6.6% growth compared with earnings of $3.622 billion a year ago.
The country’s information technology (IT) buildings and IT parks contributed $100.688 million in terms of services exports, growing 48.6% over the $67.757 million recorded in the first seven months of 2003.
As of July this year, PEZA investments created employment for 990,895 workers. De Lima noted of that this number, 594,537 workers were employed through related industries while the rest or 396,358 were employed directly within the ecozones.
