BoI investments up 105% on ICT, power pledges

Approved investments by the Department of Trade and Industry’s Board of Investments (DTI-BoI) skyrocketed 105 percent to P764.7 billion in the first nine months of the year from last year’s P372.9 billion, led by pledges in the power and information and communications technology sectors.

According to data from the DTI-BoI released to reporters on Thursday, investment pledges from domestic sources jumped 54.7 percent to P524.9 billion, while foreign investments accelerated 613 percent to P239.9 billion.

By country, Singapore remained top investment source with P170 billion in pledges for the period. South Korea followed with P34.1 billion, replacing Netherlands which ranked third with P9.2 billion in capital. Thailand (P8.6 billion), Japan (P6 billion) and the United States (P2.4 billion) were also top investors.

Trade undersecretary and BoI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said investments in the ICT and power sector alone accounted for 85 percent or P652.9 billion of total approved investments in the period.

“This massive infrastructure buildup for more power and connectivity across the archipelago is critical towards addressing binding constraints to the Philippines’ competitiveness. The development also complement the consistent growth of the manufacturing sector with P63.5 billion in approvals or a massive 190 percent growth from just P21.9 billion last year,” Rodolfo said.

Meanwhile, DTI secretary Ramon Lopez said the investments growth “is a proof of the business sector’s strong confidence in both the Philippines’ economic fundamentals as further shown by the acceleration of the third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to 6.2 percent.”

The bulk of the investments, at 98.2 percent, were for projects outside of the National Capital Region, with the CALABARZON region topping the list with P354 billion investment pledges.

This is followed by Central Luzon with P42.4 billion, NRC with P13.8 billion or mere two percent of the total, Central Luzon with P10.1 billion and Cagayan Valley with P10.05 billion.

Aside from the ICT and power sectors, BoI also clocked in rising commitments in the tourism sector with P9.5 billion worth of hotel and accommodation projects, up near seven-fold from P1.2 billion last year.

The P754.7-billion pledges also brings the DTI closer to its P1 trillion target for full-year 2019, set after the trade agency booked record-high commitments worth P915 billion in 2018.

Among the big-ticket projects approved were Orion Pacific Prime Energy’s 1,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Quezon province, Petron Corp’s P10.9 billion solid fuel-fired power plant in Bataan, 6 Barracuda Energy Corp.’s P7.6 billion wind power project in Northern Samar, Cavite Gateway Terminal Inc.’s Php1.35 billion seaport terminal and Cebu Air’s P1.7 billion operational lease of Airbus A320 NEO plane.