Lopez sees BOI’s biggest investment haul in 2018
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez expects to break investment records by wide margin this year as more projects are still in the pipeline for confirmation by the Board of Investments (BOI).
“We will hit another record-breaking investment in the BOI’s 51-year history. We will beat the 1617 billion in 2017 by a wide margin this year,” said the BOI chairman at the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the $4.4-billion integrated steel project by Chinese investors.
As of November this year, investment commitments approved by the BOI already reached 1520 billion. The BOI had set a 1670-billion investment target for 2018.
But there are additional 1270 billion worth of new investments in the pipeline that have yet to be confirmed by the BOI. Based on estimate, total BOI-approved investment pledges for the entire 2018 could hit roughly 1800 billion, the biggest in BOI’s history.
The BOI Board is scheduled to meet for the last time this year on December 19 to confirm the investment pledges.
The Chinese integrated steel project alone once registered with the BOI will add 1220 billion.
On Friday, China’s HBIS Group Co. Ltd. and Huili Investment Fund Management Co. Ltd. and Filipino businessman Benjamin Yao’s Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp. have joined forces to jointly undertake the country’s first integrated steel manufacturing complex in Misamis Oriental worth $4.4 billion.
Other investments in the pipeline include cement projects with estimated cost of 112 billion to 114 billion.
There are also infrastructure projects with 150 billion worth of investments.
A BOI-registered enterprise is entitled to income tax holiday, duty-free importation of capital equipment, among others. Projects that register with the BOI are mostly geared for the domestic market.
BOI project approvals have realization rate of more than 80 percent.