PEZA-OKAYED INVESTMENTS SURGE OVER 100%

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) announced on Tuesday that its approved investment pledges soared by more than 100 percent in January.

In a statement, the ecozone agency said its board greenlighted 24 projects that were expected to employ 5,601 workers and bring P11.30 billion in investments into the country.

“This is a 139-percent increase from the P4.726-billion investments PEZA generated…in January 2020,” PEZA Director General Charito Plaza said in the statement without disclosing other details.

Last year, investment approvals declined by 18 percent year-onyear to P95.03 billion from P117.5 billion.

“PEZA had generated P95 billion of investments with 300 projects registered for [2020]. As of October 2020, PEZA also generated $45.085 billion [in] exports and created 1,541,259 jobs. This also allowed PEZA to remit to the national government… P24.097 billion from 1995 to 2020,” Plaza said.

The continued investment inflows showed that the Philippines remains a favorable destination for investors, according to her.

To attract more investments, the PEZA board approved last year the adoption of a 10-point program and special project plan, called “PEZA’s Transformational Roadmap,” for the next 25 years.

This roadmap is “a blueprint that is a legacy and continued guideline to unlock the potentials of Philippine industries, of enhancing human capital and natural resources of our country toward full, sustainable, and green industrialization,” Plaza explained.

PEZA will collaborate with other government bodies to address the efficiency factors that expanding multinational companies are considering in making their investment decisions, she said.