Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority dropped 26 percent last year to P218.2 billion from P295 billion in 2015.
Peza director-general Charito Plaza said the uncertainties of the recent presidential election affected the economic zones’ performance in 2016.
“Adding to this were the pronouncements of US President-elect Donald Trump that dampened the interest of American companies operating in the Philippines to expand further,” Plaza said in a news briefing Monday .
Employment at economic zones hit 1.32 million jobs in 2016, while exports by ecozone locators in the first three quarters reached $38.9 billion.
Plaza said the top investments promotion agency would make up to recover lost investments by trebling or quadrupling investment projects in 2017.
“With new ecozones all over the country, we are hopeful that investments will triple or even quadruple this year. This is a huge leap we want created with our aggressive invitation to investors,” she said.
Peza approved 61 new economic zones in 2016, including a mixture of private, public and local government unit-ecozones. Thirdy more applications for ecozones were pending and were up for signing or approval by Malacañang Palace.
Among the 61 new ecozones were three manufacturing establishments, five agro-industrial complexes, 1 medical tourism area, 50 IT centers and parks and 2 tourism companies. Together, they put in P70.5 billion in combined investments.
Peza said 358 economic zones were actively operating in the Philippines as of end-2016. These economic zones host 3,780 companies or locators.
“Many countries are looking at the Philippines as the new investment haven because of its strategic location and the safe, peaceful policy of the new government free from bureaucratic red tape and corruption,” said Plaza.
Peza remitted P521 million in dividends to the national treasury for the period covering 2015.
The Board of Investments, the other major investment promotion agency, said investment projects surged 20.4 percent in 2016 to P441.8 billion from P366.7 billion in 2015, boosted by foreign commitments.
Registered projects in 2016 marked the highest in three years, or since 2013 when the figure hit P466 billion. Last year’s 20.4-percent growth also exceeded BoI’s 7-percent growth target for 2016.
Trade Secretary and BoI chairman Ramon Lopez said the growth in investment pledges was driven by continued confidence of investors in the country’s sustained strong macroeconomic fundamentals, the government’s socio-economic agenda and recent state visits by President Rodrigo Duterte in China, Japan and Singapore.
“With the investment missions that we are doing, investors have gained greater awareness of the Philippines’ strong and growing economy,” Lopez said.
