’20 FOREIGN INVESTMENT PLEDGES DOWN 71%–PSA

WITH the global economy nearly at a standstill last year, the country’s foreign investment pledges plunged 71.26 percent in 2020, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on the latest Approved Foreign Investments report, foreign investments declined to P112.123 billion in 2020 from P390.11 billion in 2019.

PSA data showed this is the lowest since 2017 when total approved foreign investments averaged P105.75 billion.

“Approved foreign investments do not represent actual investments generated but rather foreign investment commitments which may come in the near future. This consists of equity, loans and reinvested earnings,” PSA noted.

Of the total, investments from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) and the Board of Investments (BOI) accounted for the bulk of approved investments in 2020.

Approved investments from Peza amounted to P59.729 billion or 53.27 percent of the total, while those from BOI reached P47.73 billion or 42.57 percent of the total for the year.

Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2020, total approved foreign investments contracted 67.5 percent to P36.487 billion.

The fourth-quarter performance declined due to the 80.7-percent contraction in approved foreign investments from BOI and 49.2 percent in approvals in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

However, approved investments in the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) posted double-digit growth of 19.6 percent, 16.9 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively.

The foreign investment commitments for the fourth

quarter of 2020 were mainly driven by investments from the United States, which accounted for 36.7 percent; Taiwan, 12.1 percent; and Japan, 11.7 percent of the total approved during the period.

Data showed the US committed investments worth P13.4 billion, while Taiwan and Japan pledged P4.4 billion and P4.3 billion, respectively. “Approved projects with foreign interests in the fourth quarter of 2020 were projected to generate 24,239 jobs,” the PSA said.

The investment approvals were obtained from the 7 IPAS, namely BOI, BOI Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, CDC, Peza, SBMA, Ceza, and Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (Afab).