Approved foreign investments dropped by half in the first three-months of the year despite improving economic condition amid the prolonged pandemic, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed.
Based on the PSA report, total foreign investments declined 54 percent to P8.98 billion in January to March from P19.55 billion in the same period last year.
The commitments were mainly driven by investments from Japan accounting for 39.7 percent of the total, followed by South Korea with 18.5 percent and Singapore with 18.2 percent.
“Japan committed P3.56 billion, while South Korea and Singapore pledged P1.66 billion and P1.63 billion, respectively,” PSA said.
According to the PSA, manufacturing bested all other industries as it stands to receive P5.15 billion or 57.4 percent of the total pledges.
Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Airconditioning Supply came in second with investment commitments valued at P1.66 billion or 18.5 percent share, followed by Administrative and Support Service Activities with P977.37 million or 10.9 percent contribution.
Majority of the approved foreign investments in the first quarter of 2022 is intended to finance projects in Region IV-B or CALABARZON amounting to P4.87 billion or 54.2 percent of the total.
This was followed by Cagayan Valley with P1.66 billion (18.5 percent), and Central Visayas with P986.59 million (11 percent).
Meanwhile, total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached P190.57 billion in the first quarter, an increased of 15 percent compared with P164.89 billion in the same period of the previous year.
“Filipino nationals continued to dominate the approved investments during the quarter, posting P181.59 billion worth of investment pledges or 95.3 percent share,” PSA said.
Foreign investments were pledges from six investment promotion agencies (IPAs). They were Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Board of Investments, Clark Development Corp., Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
No investment approvals were reported from BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM) for first quarter of years 2021 and 2022.
Total approved projects of foreign and Filipino investors in the first quarter of 2022 were projected to generate 14,416 jobs.
Out of the total anticipated jobs for the period, approved projects with foreign interest were projected to generate 9,655 jobs based on the reports of IPAs.