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FOREIGN
direct investments (FDIs) approved in the last quarter
of 2007 represented among the highest number of approved
investments since 1997, according to data collected by
the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
In a
statement, the NSCB said that FDIs approved in the
fourth quarter of last year showed an increase of 492.1
percent to P102.6 billion, from only P17.3 billion in
the same period in 2006.
The
statement came a day after Michael Clancy, chairman of
the Philippine Business Leaders’ Forum, said many FDIs
are bypassing the country because of concern over
corruption and the notion that Manila is too reliant on
“bad” loans from China, anyway.
Clancy
told the International Conference on the Implications of
the Asean Charter on East Asian Integration that Manila
lagged most of its Asean neighbors in competitiveness,
so that even those businesses that first invested in
China and are seeking backup investments in the region
tend to look first at Thailand, Malaysia or Australia.
Earlier,
experts had been saying that while FDIs were rising in
the Philippines, still, the rate of growth was nowhere
near that of its neighbors. Moreover, as cited by Clancy
on Wednesday, half of the net FDI flowing into the Asean
region goes to Singapore, and the Philippines’s share is
a measly “1 percent to 2 percent.”
Meanwhile, the NSCB said Thursday the approved
Philippine FDI in the last quarter of 2007 brought the
total annual FDI of the country to P215.2 billion in
2007, posting a 29.8-percent growth from its level in
2006, which was pegged at P165.9 billion.
“The
highest recorded approved FDIs were in the first quarter
of 2004 at P118.6 billion, and in the third quarter of
1997 at P116.6 billion, making the [FDI approvals in
the] fourth quarter of 2007 the third-highest in 12
years,” the NSCB said.
The
electricity industry received the major chunk of
investment pledges worth P52.5 billion, or 51.2 percent
of the total approved FDI for the quarter.
The NSCB
said 80 percent of the total amount of the investment
pledges for the sector is for a coal-fired power plant
to be used for power generation. The NSCB, however,
refused to disclose which company or companies have
pledged this investment.
Approved
investments in private services, which accounted for 13
percent, or P13.32 billion, of the total FDIs pledged
for the period.
The NSCB
said 82 percent of approved investments in this area are
due to pledges in tourism-related services and
business-process outsourcing (BPOs). The NSCB said that
around 54 percent of the investments in this area are
accounted for by tourism services and 28 percent by BPOs.
Meanwhile, manufacturing which has consistently topped
the recipients of FDI pledges, accounted for 12.9
percent, or P13.27 billon worth of investment
commitments.
The
majority, or 32 percent, of investment pledges in
manufacturing, the NSCB said, are for the repair and
building of ships.
Other
industries that showed increased investments causing
total FDIs to balloon in the fourth quarter of 2007
include mining, construction and finance and real
estate, accounting for 7.9 percent, 6.5 percent and 5.6
percent of total FDI for the quarter, respectively.
The
mining industry continued to receive pledges from
foreign investors, which started in the second quarter
of 2006.
The
construction industry, on the other hand, bested all
other industries in terms of growth, expanding
tremendously from P0.7 billion in the fourth quarter of
2006 to P6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007,
growing by almost 10 times.
The
projects envisioned from the FDI approved by the four
investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in the fourth
quarter of 2007 are expected to generate a total of
28,628 jobs, which represented a 22.8-percent increase
over the 23,322 jobs expected from projects approved in
the same period in 2006.
All
other IPAs registered increases in investment approvals
in the last quarter of 2007, with the Board of
Investments (BOI) posting the highest growth rate:
having approved P78.7 billion worth of investments or 24
times the P3.3 billion approved in the fourth quarter of
2006. |
