Approved foreign investment pledges increased by nearly half in the second-quarter of the year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Thursday, Sept. 9.

Based on the PSA data, total foreign investments in the country reached P22.5 billion in April to June 2021, an increase of 45 percent compared with P15.46 billion in the same period last year.

PSA said the investment pledges were from the government’s six investment promotion agencies (IPAs).

The IPAs were Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp., Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.

No investment approvals from foreign nationals were reported by BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, PSA said.

The foreign investment commitments were mainly driven by investments from the United Kingdom which accounted for 55.6 percent of the total, followed by South Korea (10 percent) and the United States (9.5 percent).

According to the PSA, UK committed P12.52 billion, while South Korea and USA pledged P2.25 billion and P2.13 billion, respectively.

Information and communication industry bested all other industries as it stands to receive P12.53 billion or 55.7 percent of the total foreign investment pledges.

Construction came in second with investment commitments valued at P3.62 billion or 16.1 percent share, followed by manufacturing with P2.27 billion or 10.1 percent contribution.

Majority of the approved foreign investments in the second quarter amounting to P12.52 billion (55.6 percent) was intended to finance projects classified as “nationwide” or situated in different parts of the country.

This was followed by Central Luzon with P3.66 billion (16.3 percent) and CALABARZON with P2.11 billion (9.4 percent).

PSA said the second quarter approved projects with foreign interest were projected to generate 17,013 jobs based on reports of the IPAs.