The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) registered a total of 221 projects with combined investment pledges amounting to P160.43 billion with projected employment of 38,360 and potential exports of P73.71 billion.
Based on the data, PEZA's approved investment pledges from January to Dec. 15 this year rose by 14.03 percent compared to the P140.7 billion approved in the same period last year.
Of the approved projects as of Dec. 15 this year, 202 are expansion by existing locators and 19 by developers. This is a notable 13.9 percent increased from 194 projects last year.
The projected exports are shown to be 87.03 percent higher than the $1.98 billion recorded in the same period in 2022.
In terms of employment, PEZA estimates showed that potential jobs creation is lower by 12.9 percent compared to 33,951 last year.
From Dec. 1 to 15 alone, PEZA implemented 24 projects comprising 21 by locators and three by developers.
Among these are 14 projects under the Ecozone Export Enterprise, two of which are new while 12 are existing projects. Their combined project cost is at P16.98 million.
Three projects are under the Information Technology sector worth P151,291; and four are under the Facilities Enterprise sector costing around P1.74 million.
For developer-operator projects, three IT Centers to be built in Capas, Tarlac; Bataraza, Palawan; and San Miguel, Tarlac were listed. The Tarlac project was disclosed to cost P693,107.
Overall, projected cost for the aforementioned projects were P19.55 billion. It's projected export is approximately $288.9 million.
Given these projects, PEZA predicts to accommodate around 4,515 jobs for the first half of December.