The Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s governing board reported a staggering 294.26 percent improvement in its investment approvals in the first quarter of this year, standing at P58.947 billion.

The more than P58 billion in trade nods accounts for approximately 24 percent of its 2025 investment targets, marking a significant increase from the P14.951 billion in investments approved in Q1 2024.

“PEZA’s continued upward trajectory reflects our strong commitment towards investment promotion and facilitation, coupled with our most generous fiscal incentives under the CREATE MORE, and the other advantages placing the Philippines in a sweet spot for economic growth and development. PEZA continues to play a vital role in advancing the country’s economic resilience through sustained job creation, increased exports, and enhanced investment attraction,” PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said in a statement.

For March alone, the PEZA Board greenlighted 27 new and expansion projects worth P6.014 billion, which is 110.66 percent higher than the P2.855 billion approved during the same period last year.

The projects are expected to generate $223.497 million in exports and directly employ more than 4,500 Filipino workers. These cover various industries: 12 IT-BPM projects, 10 export manufacturing ventures, two utility projects, two ecozone development ventures, and one domestic enterprise. The projects will be strategically located across Metro Manila, Region III, Region IV, Region VII, and Region X.

Among the projects are two big-ticket ventures with a combined value of P2.615 billion, set to establish a water treatment facility in Batangas and a coconut milk production plant in Misamis Oriental.

The approval of these projects brought PEZA’s total for the year to 66 projects worth P58.947 billion, with projected exports of about $497.461 million and approximately 16,000 jobs for Filipino workers.

“We are bullish that we will sustain this upward trajectory coming into the 2nd quarter of the year as we intensify our investment promotion initiatives partnered with the CREATE MORE incentives, the most generous fiscal incentives among ASEAN to date. We are already organizing various investment missions with our investment partners, and those led by OSAPIEA-DTI,” stated DG Panga.

“We already received several inquiries and hosted inbound delegations from the US, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Spain who are interested in investing in the ecozones. We are anticipating the influx of more investors looking into the Philippines for their offshore operations in Asia,” he added.