IT investments registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) in 2009 went up 29.35 percent to P14.298 billion versus P11.054 billion in 2008.

The IT investments form part of the P175.365 billion total PEZA investments haul for the year. PEZA’s overall 2009 investments tally was 13.3 percent higher than the 2008 figure of P154.773 billion. The 2009 investments also exceeded its 10 percent growth target for 2009 despite the impact of the global financial crisis.

PEZA director general Lilia B. De Lima said the investments represent the combined project costs of the 160 IT companies that registered with the agency in 2009.

The 160 approved IT projects were 11.89 percent more than the 143 IT projects approved by PEZA in the same period last year.
The new investments are expected to generate 47,978 direct employment opportunities, which is 21.66 percent higher than the projected 39,436 jobs from the IT projects in 2008.

According to De Lima, these IT projects are expected to generate $880.468 million in exports annually once they start full commercial operation.

For 2010, De Lima has reported to Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila that PEZA is targeting 15 percent increase in investments over 2009 performance.

De Lima said that electronics should continue to drive the growth in new investment commitments.

“Next year would be a better year,” she added.

In fact, over 60 percent of the investments haul in 2009 were reinvestments of existing firms, mostly electronics companies and the rest are new projects.

There were, however, fewer projects registered this year of 502 as against 513 projects of 2008. PEZA projects have 90 percent success rate.

In terms of exports and employment, PEZA failed to hit its 5 percent growth target this year.