The approved foreign investments (FI) in the first quarter of the year plunged by 63.6 percent versus the previous year’s level, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a statement yesterday, the PSA said total FIs fell to P148.43 billion, from the P408.22 billion recorded in the same quarter of 2023.
These investments were pledges from the following investment promotion agencies (IPAs): Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp., Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
Meanwhile, the following IPAs reported no FI approvals for the quarter: Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Clark International Airport Corp., John Hay Management Corp., Poro Point Management Corp., Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority.
Of the total approved FIs for the first quarter, Singapore posted the highest investment commitment of P70.06 billion, accounting for 47.2 percent share.
It was followed by Netherlands at P38.89 billion (26.2 percent) and South Korea at P20.23 billion (13.6 percent).
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply industry received the largest amount of approved investments at P109.19 billion or 73.6 percent of the total approved FI.
This was followed by accommodation and food service activities with P20.09 billion and manufacturing with P12.62 billion, or shares of 13.5 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.
Among the regions in the country, Calabarzon received the largest share of pledged investment with a total of P117.39 billion or 79.1 percent of the total approved FI for the first three months of the year.
This was followed by Central Luzon with P23.83 billion and Bicol Region with P2.86 billion which accounted for 16.1 percent and 1.9 percent of the total FI, respectively.
The total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached P309.45 billion, which dropped by 35.6 percent from the reported amount of P480.48 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
Filipino nationals contributed P161.03 billion or 52 percent share to the total approved investments during the first quarter of 2024.
Approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals in the first quarter of 2024 were expected to generate a total of 27,711 employment.
This indicates an increase of 8.8 percent from the 25,470 expected jobs in the same quarter of the previous year.
Out of the total generated employment, 23,378 would be absorbed by foreign investment projects.
