The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) approved P36.83 billion in investments in the first five months of 2024, down 23 percent from P48.03 billion in the same period in 2023.
Once operational, the investments so far this year in 95 new and expansion projects will generate more than $1 billion exports and about 19,000 in direct employment.
On May 31, the PEZA board approved 22 new and expansion projects which are expected to bring in P6.87 billion worth of investments. These projects are anticipated to generate $100.806 million in exports and create 4,616 direct employment.
The approvals reflect an increase of 10 percent in new and expansion projects from 20 approved in May 2023, and a 3.04 percent increase in direct employment from 4,438 recorded in the same month last year.
PEZA said of the 22 projects, 19 are locator-companies and three are ecozone developers.
Ten projects are in export manufacturing, nine are in information technology-business process management, two are domestic-oriented projects and one is a facilities enterprise.
The biggest project approved last May 31 is from a Japanese enterprise which registered a P3.9-billion investment for the manufacture of semi-conductor devices and other electronic components in Cebu.
