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APPROVED
investments of foreign investors in the first quarter
was not enough to pull up the amount of total approved
investments in the said period, which declined by 6.3
percent, according to a report released by the National
Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) on Thursday.
The NSCB
said total approved investments in the first quarter was
lower by 6.3 percent to P39.1 billion from last year’s
P41.7 billion. This was mainly composed of investments
from foreign investors worth P20 billion, which
represented a 51.1-percent share of the total.
“However, this [foreign investments] was not enough to
compensate for the decline in the investments committed
by Filipino nationals, which dropped by 19.8 percent
from P23.8 billion to P19.1 billion. Contributions by
foreign and Filipino nationals to the overall growth
rate of –6.3 percent, tallied at 5 and –11.3 percentage
points, respectively,” the NSCB report stated.
“The
reduction in pledges made by Filipino investors, who
shared 48.9 percent of the combined approved
investments, contributed –11.3 percentage points to the
total decline,” the agency noted.
The NSCB
report said that among the Investment Priority Areas (IPAs),
the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) registered
the highest approved investments in the quarter
accounting for as much as 71 percent of the total.
NSCB
said the Peza approved P27.7 billion worth of
investments, up 14.3 percent from P24.3 billion
committed in the first quarter of 2007.
The
Board of Investments (BOI), on the other hand, approved
investment pledges worth P11 billion, 32.6 percent lower
than the approvals made in the same period last year.
This represented a 28.3-percent share of the total.
Meanwhile, the rest of the investment pledges, which
amounted to P298.3 million, were registered through the
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Clark
Development Corp. (CDC).
The
report stated that CDC’s investment approval for the
quarter surged to P298 million from only P72.2 million
in the same period last year.
On the
other hand, the NSCB report stated that the combined
foreign and Filipino projects approved by the IPAs are
seen to generate 41,390 jobs. This represents a
22.9-percent growth from 33,668 jobs in the first
quarter of 2007.
Around
26,218 jobs, or 63.3 percent, of the total projected
employment would come from investments approved by the
Peza, and 28.7 percent or 11,872 jobs from the BOI.
SBMA- and CDC-approved projects are expected to generate
3,300 jobs.
“All
four IPAs registered [an] increase in terms of the
number of jobs expected from their respective project
approvals, with CDC posting the highest growth, followed
by SBMA,” the NSCB said.
Meanwhile, foreign direct investments (FDI) approved in
the first quarter of 2008 by the four IPAs posted an
11.7-percent increase, which totaled P20 billion from
P17.9 billion in the same quarter last year.
The
manufacturing industry was the top recipient of FDI
pledges as it stood to receive 78.7 percent or P15.7
billion of the total FDI approved during the quarter.
Private
services, mostly in the area of information and
communications technology such as call centers,
business-process outsourcing and software development,
came in next with P3 billion worth of investment
pledges, which is 15.2 percent of the total approved FDI.
Of the
total approved FDI, 78.7 percent or P15.7 billion were
intended for the manufacturing industry, the large chunk
of which were in shipbuilding and manufacture of
electronic goods.
Korea
topped the list of foreign investors, pledging P8.5
billion, or 42.6 percent of the total FDI committed for
the quarter. A majority of Korea’s investments were
intended to fund shipbuilding projects. |
