Philippines Sees Significant Increase in Foreign Investment Pledges in Q3

Manila – The Philippines experienced a 109.3 percent increase in total foreign investment pledges in the third quarter of the year, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday. The total investment pledges for the period amounted to PHP27.30 billion, a substantial rise from the PHP13.05 billion recorded in the same period last year.

According to Philippines News Agency, The PSA detailed that these investment pledges were received from various investment promotion agencies (IPAs), including the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority. Notably, there were no foreign investment approvals reported by BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM), Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), Poro Point Management Corporation, and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, as well as by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and John Hay Management Corporation.

Singapore emerged as the top source of investment commitments with PHP13.04 billion, followed by Taiwan with PHP3.63 billion, and the United Kingdom with PHP3.06 billion. The manufacturing sector received the highest amount of pledges at PHP16.43 billion, followed by administrative and support service activities at PHP4.28 billion, and real estate activities at PHP4.22 billion. Calabarzon received the largest share of pledged investments amounting to PHP14.56 billion, followed by Central Luzon with PHP6.13 billion, and Central Visayas with PHP3.87 billion.

The PSA also noted that the total approved investments from both foreign and Filipino nationals for the quarter stood at PHP83.50 billion, which is a decrease of 47.6 percent from the PHP159.38 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. Filipino nationals contributed PHP56.19 billion, representing 67.3 percent of the total approved investments. These investments are expected to generate a total of 22,571 jobs.