The first four months have been phenomenal for the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), as they have already approved more than P63 billion in projects, an increase of more than 100 percent compared to the same period last year.

The latest numbers from the investment promotion agency show that its governing PEZA Board approved P63.523 billion worth of projects from January to April 2025, 112.06 percent higher than the P29.955 billion approved from January to April 2024.

The investment approvals were projected to produce 24,920 direct jobs, with the projected exports of $846.735 billion.

Taking the chunk of the P63 billion plus projects, there were seven big-ticket projects amounting to P49.81 billion.

In April, the PEZA Board, under the chairmanship of Trade Secretary Cristina Roque, approved 20 new and expansion projects worth P4.575 billion, which are expected to create more than 9,000 jobs and generate above $300 million worth of exports.

20 projects fetch P4.575B

The 20 projects are in export manufacturing (7), IT-BPM (5), facilities (4), utilities (2), logistics (1), and the domestic market (1) to be located in NCR, CAR, Region III, Region IV-A and Region VII.

However, the April numbers are lower than the 27 investments approved last March, which stood at P6.014 billion.

On the other hand, the top country investors by nationality from January to April were South Koreans, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kong, and Singaporeans, indicating that foreign direct investments flow in the ecozones are benefitting from the country’s newly signed free trade agreement with South Korea and the emerging China+2 strategy in the region.

“PEZA’s continued upward trajectory reflects our strong commitment towards investment promotion and facilitation. Despite the geopolitical challenges, this momentum reflects renewed investor confidence in the Philippines as a resilient and globally competitive destination,” PEZA director general Tereso Panga said.