President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s “aggressive but strategic” promotion initiatives abroad continue to bear fruits as the Department of Trade and Industry-Bureau of Investments (DTI-BOI) expressed optimism to hit its Php1 trillion investment approvals target for 2023.
In a statement, DTI said the Philippine government has already secured nearly half of its full-year target for investment approvals just six weeks at the onset of the new year.
Total investment projects approved by the lead investment promotion agency reached Php414.3 billion based on the latest BOI figures, or as of February 09, 2023, surging by 142.9 percent compared to the same period last year when it recorded P170.5 billion.
According to DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual, the agency still has potential investment leads of around Php344 billion that will still be processed.
“And more likely, than ever, we may have 80 to 90 percent of the target even before the middle of the year,” Pascual said.
The increase in investments, the DTI chief noted, proves that the Marcos administration’s promotional visits abroad are working as a growing number of investors from around the globe, particularly Southeast Asia, the United States, Belgium, China and Japan, have shown strong interest in putting in more investments into the country.
Pascual also noted that BOI’s foreign investment approvals performed even better, accelerating to Php163 billion in the same period, a 65,436 percent growth from just Php249 million in the same timeline in 2022.
It accounted for nearly 40 percent of the aggregate total, with domestic investment nods taking up the rest with Php251.3 billion, a 47.6 percent rise from Php170.3 billion last year, the DTI official added.
Based on latest BOI figures (January to February 9, 2023), the bulk of foreign capital is from Germany with Php157 billion, followed by the Netherlands (Php2.7 billion), Japan (Php524 million), the United States (Php509 million) and the United Kingdom (194 million).
The renewable energy/power sector remains dominant, with Php398.7 billion in approvals to date, up by 138 percent from the same period last year with Php167.9 billion.
Pascual said the aggressive investment promotion efforts led by President Marcos are complemented by the country’s strong economic performance with a 7.6 percent GDP growth.
President Marcos recently sealed $13 billion worth of agreements during his five-day working visit to Japan.
Japan pledged to provide development loans for the North-South Commuter Railway for Malolos-Tutuban and the North-South Commuter Railway Project Extension totaling JPY 377 billion, which is about USD 3 billion.
President Marcos said the completion of these projects, along with other ongoing large-scale Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects such as the Metro Manila Subway Project and many more across the country, is expected to translate to better lives for Filipinos through improved facilitation of the movement of people, goods and services. (PND)
