On track to attain its conservative 10% growth target for the year, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Board has greenlighted 20 new and expansion projects in May expected to bring in PhP 14.933 Billion investments.
PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga reported, “This brings PEZA’s total approved investments for the Jan-May period to PhP48.027 Billion, which is 153.74% higher as compared to the PhP18.928 Billion in the same period in 2022.”
Breakdown of approvals
Among these 20 projects approved by the Board last May 26, 11 are into export manufacturing, seven (7) IT, one (1) facilities, and one (1) ecozone development.
These projects will be located in Makati, Pasig, Taguig, Baguio, Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Cebu, Iloilo, and South Cotabato.
The biggest project pre-qualified by the PEZA Board for FIRB approval is engaged in the manufacturing of solar wafer cells with Maxeon 7 technology to be located in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, with investments worth PhP11.633 Billion.
Moreover, these projects are expected to generate about US$293.55 Million exports and create 4,480 direct jobs.
According to DG Panga, “We are continuously seeing an uptrend with our investment approvals as we enter the first half of the year, and we are more aggressive in our initiatives to help our investors make the Philippines their smart investment choice, taking the cue from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who has been most active in promoting the Philippines in his outbound missions.”
Whole-of-government approach
Adopting a whole-of-government approach, PEZA is constantly partnering with government agencies and various industry associations to address the pain points that hinder investors to unlock the untapped potentials of the Philippines.
PEZA met with Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, Commission on Election (COMELEC) Chairman George Garcia, and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan to discuss the concerns of our investors and present our initiatives in support of the investment attraction and facilitation strategy of the government to bring in the much-needed FDIs to the country.
PEZA also discussed with Senator Loren Legarda for creation of more ecozones in Antique and other provinces nationwide to spur countryside development.
“We also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ramp up digitalization in government to ensure fast and efficient delivery of services to the public and to carry out Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual’s directive to adopt digital transformation to boost the country’s competitiveness as investment destination particularly for high-tech and innovator accelerator companies,” explained DG Panga.
To further these efforts, PEZA is also engaging with some of its growth champions in government, partner investment promotion agencies, and foreign chambers in strengthening the ecozone development program to be able to attract strategic and big-ticket investments in the country.
PEZA continues to serve as a testament to government’s successful investment and export-led growth strategy. Out of the total 3,431 registered business enterprises (excluding multi-sites), 98% are export-oriented; only 2% are domestic-oriented (into manufacturing). In terms of sales ratio, 94% are export sales while 6% are local sales.
As efficiency-seeking investors that compete in the global export market, PEZA locators account for 82% of the country’s total annual commodity exports and 60% of services exports.
With this, the PEZA Chief assured that “We vow to continuously perform our mandate to the best of our ability and help the administration in achieving its bid for the country to graduate to upper-middle income status within the term of President Marcos.”
