President Marcos’ foreign trips have so far yielded a total of P427 billion in foreign investment approvals by the Board of Investments (BOI), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
(From left) President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos (Ali Vicoy/MANILA BULLETIN)
In a Palace press briefing held after a sectoral meeting with the Chief Executive, the official shared what they have reported to Marcos, who he said, is “very meticulous” at the results of the presidential visits.
From January to September this year, the BOI approved a total of P734 billion in total investments, P427 of which are foreign investments while the rest are local investments.
During the same period last year, BOI-approved investments amounted to only P362 billion, reflecting an increase of 102 percent.
“Kung titingnan natin iyong foreign component mismo, ang total approved registrations po sa BOI ay umaabot ng 427 billion pesos. Kung ikukumpara ninyo ho iyon sa same period of last year, it’s actually a 4,150 percent increase (If we will look at the foreign component, the total approved registrations with the BOI reached P427 billion. If you will compare this to the same period of last year, it’s actually a 4,150 percent increase),” Rodolfo explained.
The official added that the “foreign investments portion” of the BOI-approved investments shows the “direct impact” of Marcos’ travels.
This also includes the foreign approvals of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and other Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs).
He expressed confidence that these figures were “directly engaged” with Marcos’ travels because of where these investments came from.
The top investors were Germany, Japan, and South Korea, with Germany filling up 80 percent of the P427 billion foreign investments. Despite being a member of the European Union (EU), the regional bloc as a whole has “maliit (little)” investments, Rodolfo said.
Most of these investments are in the sectors of renewable energy, telecommunications, mineral processing, and high-tech manufacturing.
But despite these figures merely being investment approvals and registrations for now, the DTI official is adamant these would translate to tangible projects.
“Ang track record ho natin sa (Our track record at the) Board of Investments over the past ten years is that about 80 percent of the projects that register, actually continue on to implement their projects – iyong mga nagkakatotoo (those that come true),” he explained.
Earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) latest figures showed that foreign direct investments (FDIs) declined by 20 percent to $3.9 billion during the first half of 2023.