DESPITE a contraction in foreign investments, total approved investments by the country’s Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) grew 42.5 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a report on Thursday, PSA said total approved investments made by Filipino and foreign nationals increased to P165.16 billion in the first three months of the year from P115.89 billion in the same period last year.
Investments from Filipino nationals reached P145.61 billion or 88.2 percent of total approved investments in the first quarter. Foreign investments only reached P19.55 billion, a contraction of 32.9 percent from P29.14 billion in the same period in 2020.
These combined approved investments are expected to generate 23,472 jobs, a 35-percent contraction from the 36,130 projected jobs from pledges made in the same period last year.
“Out of these total anticipated jobs, 78.5 percent would be absorbed by projects with foreign interest. Among industries, manufacturing is expected to produce the greatest number of jobs during the quarter as the industry is expected to generate 9,514 jobs,” PSA said.
Foreign investment (FI) commitments for the first quarter of 2021 were mainly driven by investments from Japan which accounted for 54.8 percent of the total approved FI, followed by Cayman Islands at 5.8 percent and South Korea at 3 percent.
PSA said Japan committed P10.72 billion, while Cayman Islands and South Korea pledged P1.14 billion and P592.63 million, respectively.
Manufacturing bested all other industries as it stands to receive 57 percent or 11.14 billion of the total FI pledges.
Information and Communication came in second with investment commitments valued at P4.58 billion or 23.4 percent of the total approved FI, followed by Real Estate Activities with P2.24 billion or 11.5 percent FI contribution.
By region, the majority of the approved foreign investments in the first quarter of 2021 is intended to finance projects in Region IVA-Calabarzon amounting to P7.54 billion or 38.6 percent of the total.
This was followed by Region VII (Central Visayas) with P2.73 billion or 14 percent, and the National Capital Region with P1.74 billion or 8.9 percent of the total.
The investment pledges were approved by the Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (Afab), and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza).
However, PSA said no investment approvals were reported from BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM) for the reference quarter.