PEZA investment approvals top P12B

INVESTMENT approvals have hit P12.096 billion barely two months into the year, the Board of Investments (BoI) said on Monday, 18.66 percent higher compared to the P10.19 billion recorded a year earlier.

“The significant upswing in our investment performance within two months underscores our commitment to achieving our target of P250 billion [in] investments for this year,” PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said in a statement.

The agency did not provide a cut-off date for the tally — there are still 10 days left to run in the month — but said that 16 projects worth P9.884 billion had been approved in February.

Nine were said to be ecozone enterprises, three for information technology, one for the domestic market, two for ecozone logistics, and one for a developer venture.

The 16 projects, if realized, are expected to generate $591.476 million in exports and create 2,243 jobs.

Last Friday alone, the PEZA board was said to have approved 28 expansion projects that are expected to generate $661.095 million in exports and provide 3,580 direct job opportunities.

The 16 projects approved in February, the agency said, will be located in the following: the First Philippine Industrial Park 2, Daiichi Industrial Park, Light Industry & Science Park 3, Laguna Technopark, Phividec Industrial Estate, Lima Technology Center, Mactan Economic Zone 2, People Technology Complex, 1 Nito Tower in Cebu City, Embarcadero De Legazpi in Legazpi City, Albay, Light Industry & Science Park 4, and the Hermosa Ecozone Industrial Park.

One of the projects is focused on the manufacture of solar wafer cells and is scheduled to start operations in July 2024, the PEZA noted.

It added that compared to February last year, approved investments, expected exports, and jobs to be created were higher by 160.8 percent, 135.31 percent, and 319.25 percent, respectively.

The PEZA board was also said to have visited the facilities of Epson Precision Inc. and Grandsun Advanced Electronics Co. Inc. at the Lima ecozone last Friday.

Epson Philippines President Akifumi Takei told BoI officials that “as of February 14, 2024, we have created 20,308 jobs in our three factories. We are also proud to say that 80 [percent] of our inputs in our Philippines are purchased locally.”

To date, Epson has invested P18.837 billion in the country, while Grandsun has tallied P75 million, the PEZA said.