THE Board of Investments (BOI) has adjusted its 2023 Investment registration target from P1 trillion to P1.5 trillion following the “strong” investment approvals recorded in January 2023 alone.
In a statement on Thursday, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual, who also chairs the BOI, attributed the revision of investment approvals target for 2023 to the “robust” pipeline of investment leads, including those secured through the foreign trips of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr.
“Given the strong investment approvals for January, as well as the robust pipeline of investment leads—including those generated through Presidential Visits—I have increased the 2023 Investment Registration target of BOI from P1 trillion to P1.5 trillion,” Pascual said.
The Trade chief thanked BOI for “enthusiastically” welcoming his challenge. He likewise thanked the President for his “hard work” in promoting the Philippines “as a hub for sustainability and innovation-driven manufacturing and services in the region.”
In the first month of 2023 alone, the BOI said it had generated P414 billion worth of investments, or more than 40 percent of its initial P1-trillion investments target for 2023.
In a statement issued by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), BOI’s mother agency, on Saturday, Pascual expressed confidence that the 80 percent to 90 percent of the initial P1-trillion target of BOI could be achieved even before mid-year.
The Trade chief’s confidence in hitting such a target was backed by around P344-billion “potential investment leads” which he said will still be processed.
“The increase in investments proves that the government’s promotional visits abroad led by no less than the President himself, are working as a growing number of investors from around the globe, from Southeast Asia, the US, Belgium, China, and most recently Japan, have shown strong interest in putting in more investments into the country,” Pascual said in a statement on Saturday.
Following his announcement on Thursday of the revised P1.5-trillion investment approvals target for 2023, Pascual told reporters in a Viber message, “We continuously work hard to ensure actual investment application by companies in our robust pipeline of investment leads.”
These investment leads, he said, are in the areas of: Renewable Energy, Data Centers, Electric Vehicle Assembly and Infrastructure, Export-oriented Manufacturing, and Telecommunications, among others.
The Trade chief stressed that the previous presidential visits of Marcos have contributed “significantly” to BOI’s “robust list of investment leads,” which he said includes companies that did not participate directly in activities held during the visit but are also “strongly encouraged by the positive projection of the Philippines as influenced by the visits.”
Meanwhile, with the recent ratification by the Philippine Senate of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which is believed by Trade officials to provide an “enabling environment,” Pascual said he is confident that the trade deal “can contribute to pushing investors to decide on setting up in the Philippines.”