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The Philippine Economic Zone Authority Board approved 20 new and expansion projects in May expected to bring in investments worth P14.933 billion
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They are also seen to generate $293.55 million in exports and create 4,480 direct jobs
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January to May approved investments are up 153.7% from the same period last year
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Board approved 20 new and expansion projects in May expected to bring in investments worth P14.933 billion.
This brings the total approved investments for January to May to P48.027 billion, 153.74% higher than P18.928 billion year-on-year, PEZA director general Tereso Panga said in a statement.
It also brings the agency on track to attain its conservative 10% growth target for the year, PEZA said.
Among the 20 projects approved on May 26, 11 are involved in export manufacturing, seven in IT, one in facilities, and another one in ecozone development. The projects are expected to generate about $293.55 million in exports and create 4,480 direct jobs.
They will be located in Makati, Pasig, Taguig, Baguio, Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Cebu, Iloilo and South Cotabato.
The biggest project pre-qualified by the PEZA Board for Fiscal Incentives Review Board approval is worth P11.633 billion, and engaged in the manufacturing of solar wafer cells with Maxeon 7 technology to be located in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.
“We are continuously seeing an uptrend with our investment approvals as we enter the first half of the year, and we are more aggressive in our initiatives to help our investors make the Philippines their smart investment choice, taking the cue from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who has been most active in promoting the Philippines in his outbound missions,” Panga said.
PEZA said it is adapting a whole-of-government approach, constantly partnering with government agencies and various industry associations to address pain points of investors.
Agency officials met with Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Commission on Election chairman George Garcia, and National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan to discuss concerns of investors and present initiatives supportive of investment attraction to bring in foreign direct investments into the country.
PEZA discussed with Senator Loren Legarda the creation of more ecozones in Antique and other provinces nationwide to spur countryside development.
“We also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ramp up digitalization in government to ensure fast and efficient delivery of services to the public and to carry out Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual’s directive to adopt digital transformation to boost the country’s competitiveness as investment destination particularly for high-tech and innovator accelerator companies,” explained Panga.
Further, PEZA is engaging with some of its growth champions in government, partner investment promotion agencies, and foreign chambers to strengthen the ecozone development program in order to attract strategic and big-ticket investments.
PEZA said it serves as a testament to government’s successful investment and export-led growth strategy. Out of the total 3,431 registered business enterprises (excluding multi-sites), 98% are export-oriented; only 2% are domestic-oriented (into manufacturing). In terms of sales ratio, 94% are export sales while 6% are local sales.
PEZA locators account for 82% of the country’s total annual commodity exports and 60% of services exports.
