THE Philippines has recorded a total of P1.4 trillion approved investments since the start of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Fred Pascual said Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
In his presentation to Marcos on the status of foreign investment leads and the ways forward to ensure project realization, Pascual said there is a substantial increase in foreign investments approved by the DTI investment promotion agencies such as the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).
He said from the $1.1 billion investment approvals in the first half of 2022, it went up to @3.3 billion toward the end of the year.
“And when we look at the first half of 2023, the approvals ballooned to USD 8.4 billion. These are the foreign investment approvals that will be realized over time,” said Pascual.
Pascual said they are also confident that the foreign direct investment inflows being reported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will help the BOI and Peza to further build up a good pipeline of approved foreign-invested projects that will eventually be implemented as actual investments.
In a press conference in Malacañang, (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said Marcos’ foreign visits have already yielded a total of P427 billion foreign investment with BOI in which the bulk is for the renewable energy sector.
He said the actual approvals of the BOI from January to September 2023 has already reached P734 billion, significantly higher than the P362 billion in the same period in 2022.
“Napakalaking bagay noon kasi makikita ninyo ngayon iyong resulta noong mga pumapasok sa atin, madami doon sa binanggit kong P427 billion worth of foreign projects are actually in the renewable energy sector, tapos marami doon nanggagaling sa Europe,” Rodolfo said.
(It was a very big thing because now you can see the results of those who come to us, many of the P427 billion worth of foreign projects I mentioned are actually in the renewable energy sector, and many of them come from Europe.)
“Tapos, hindi lang iyong visit na iyon mismo pero pati iyong mga pagtanggap ni Presidente sa mga bisita na nanggagaling sa ibang bansa. Pumunta ho dito iyong European Council President, si Madam Ursula Von der Leyen tapos napakaganda noong mga naging mensahe doon including the resumption of our FTA (Free Trade Agreements) negotiations with the EU,” he added.
(Then, it's not just that visit itself but also the President's receptions for guests coming from other countries. The President of the European Council, Madam Ursula Von der Leyen, came here and it was wonderful when the messages were there including the resumption of our FTA (Free Trade Agreements) negotiations with the EU.)
On top of this, Rodolfo said the Peza also approved P131 billion worth of investments in the same period in 2023, 232.45 percent more than during the same period in 2022.
Rodolfo said most of the Peza investments can also be considered direct results of the Marcos’ foreign visits because many of them have come from Japan, China and the United States, which the President had visited late last year and early this year.
Aside from increased foreign investments and registrations, non-investing countries have noticed the Philippines and started considering putting their money in the country.
“Tapos, doon sa mga bansa na typically hindi natin nakita in the past years to have been investing in the Philippines – ito iyong mga pumapasok and ito rin kasama dito iyong mga bansang pinuntahan ni Presidente,” Rodolfo said.
(Then, in the countries that we have typically not seen in the past years to have been investing in the Philippines - these are those that are entering and this also includes those countries that the President went to.) (SunStar Philippines)