EMPLOYMENT in the country’s economic zones increased by 14.28 percent as of October, while exports and investment figures only saw minimal hikes during the same period as the impact of the truck ban and the lingering port congestion tempered growth.
According to data from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), enterprises within the country’s economic zones, from January to October 2014, now employ 1,148,468 workers.
Investments, on the other hand, grew by 2.56 percent to P153.938 billion. Information-technology (IT)-enabled projects and new economic zones accounted for 40 percent of total investments from January to October this year.
Exports saw the same stunted growth, increasing by only 3.78 percent this year to $32.898 billion as of October.
The robust hiring was credited to increased employment by the business-process outsourcing enterprises in Peza-accredited IT parks and buildings.
According to Peza Spokesman Elmer San Pascual, investments and exports could have seen a 6-percent to 7-percent growth, or even an average 10-percent growth rate in the first 10 months had it not been for the truck ban and the port congestion. Both negatively impacted on the operations of Peza enterprises, especially in the May-to-July period.
“We could have grown 6 percent to 7 percent immediately because export markets like the United States and the European Union are recovering,” San Pascual said.
“Exports could have recovered and we could have taken advantage of that. Instead, we lost an estimated $500 million a month in export opportunities,” Pascual noted. Some of the firms’ capacities were shifted to other production sites abroad.