BOI investment pledges up 40 percent in Jan.-July

Investment commitments registered with the Board of Investments in the January-July period this year jumped 40 percent to 1294.8 billion versus 1210.4 billion approved during the same period last year, boosted by the huge 1106.8-billion inflow in the month of July alone.

Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez attributed the strong growth in investment pledges to the continued confidence of domestic and foreign investors in the country’s sound economic policies, and attractive business environment.

The investment figure represents the combined project costs of 268 projects that the BOI registered in the first seven months of the year. The number of projects also went up by 40 percent compared to only 192 approved in the same first seven months of 2016.

These projects are expected to generate 58,758 new jobs once fully operational or 57 percent from 37,487 in the same period in 2016.

The BOI reported that several big ticket projects registered in the month of July following the completion of the guidelines of the 2017 Investment Priorities Plan.

Committed investments in July 2017 reached 1106.8 billion from 32 projects, a 347 percent surge from 123.9 billion for 30 projects approved in the same month last year.

San Miguel Corporation’s 179.2-billion infrastructure project topped the list. The project involves the construction of a 23-kilometer railway line from San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan to MRT-3 North Avenue in Quezon City and the 22-kilometer asphalt road from Bocaue Interchange of the North Luzon Expressway to the intermodal terminal in Tala.

Other notable projects for the month include the 16.5-billion cement Bulacan expansion project of Eagle Cement

Corporation, the 15.1-billion Aruga Hotel by Rockwell Land Corporation in Makati City, and the 11.8-billion Calaca, Batangas Liquefied Petroleum Gas project of South Pacific Inc.

There were also major Mindanao-bound projects approved in July. These include the 13.5-billion hydropower project of Alson’s in Maasim, Saranggani, the 12.1 billion hydropower project of Repower Energy Development Corporation in Maramag, Bukidnon and another 11.5 billion hydropower project of the same company in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon, the 1455 million corrugated boxes for export project of Smartflute Corrugated Packaging Company, in Carmen, Davao del Norte, and the 1179-million Go Hotel in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte.

One notable project approved in July was the 15 million online tax filing services project of Taxumo, Inc., a Philippine startup focused on the development of an end-toend tax preparation software that allows self-employed individuals and professionals to do “do-it-yourself” online tax filing from submission to payment.

Taxumo is one of the many micro and small enterprise (MSE) project that the BOI has approved since the processing and approval of MSE projects was delegated to the BOI Management Committee.

Citing the surging investments, Lopez said that the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals and support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s 10-Point Socioeconomic Agenda drove investor confidence to a higher level.

“Presidential visits and the agency’s investment missions abroad have increased the interest of investors, as they gained awareness of the Philippines, convinced of the country’s potential.”

“What further makes the Philippines attractive are plans of the administration to ramp-up infrastructure spending that is seen to increase economic activities, the country’s demographic dividend, highlyskilled workforce, and the strategic location of the country, which can serve as a gateway to the rest of the ASEAN market,” the Secretary said.

Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo, meanwhile said, “We are already at 59 percent of the yearend target of 1500 billion and definitely, we are on course to reach, if not, top our investment target for our 50th Founding Anniversary.”

With President Duterte’s swift and early approval of the 2017 IPP, the benefits of the country’s fast economic growth is seen to spread to the countryside with emphasis on a broader segment of the manufacturing sector, innovation-driven, inclusive business (IB), and job-generating businesses, Rodolfo said BOI sees a robust growth of manufacturing investment projects this year. The manufacturing sector generated a total of 149 billion investments in 2016 or 11 percent of total investments last year.

As the agency has taken IB under its wing through the new IPP, Lopez said the BOI is expecting to receive projects that incorporate IB models, sustainably linking small community enterprises into the value chain of big businesses.

In line with this, BOI has created an IBProgram Management Office responsible for evaluating investment projects applying for registration with potential IB models.

Under the General Policies and Specific Guidelines of the 2017-2019 IPP, IB Projects in the agribusiness and tourism sectors may qualify for pioneer status and eligibility for income tax holiday of five years, subject to the provisions of Executive Order No. 226 or the Omnibus Investments Code.

“With the IPP as the heart of its industry development policies, the BOI remains committed in facilitating and approving investment projects that are impactful, sociallyrelevant, labor intensive, and promotes innovation while at the same time making sure that these projects are of national interest and makes responsible use of the country’s resources,” Rodolfo said.