Investment pledges registered with the Board of Investments (BOI), the government’s premier investment promotion agency under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),  already reached over P800 billion to date.

DTI Secretary and BOI Chairman Alfredo E. Pascual revealed to reporters during a media huddle on Sept. 11, that the year-to-date investments registered with the BOI already reached over P800 billion.

The robust investment registration also made Pascual confident of exceeding the P1.5 trillion investments target of the BOI for the year.

“It is robust, I don’t have the exact figure, but it’s P800 billion already,” said Pascual.

“Possible,” Pascual said when asked if BOI can surpass its adjusted P1.5 trillion target approvals this year. 

The BOI initially set a target of P1 trillion this year, but Pascual pushed for a 50 percent increase in their goal to P1.5 trillion. 

Pascual said he was encouraged by the good prospects from their investment promotion roadshows overseas and the strong pitch for investors by President Marcos during his official and state visits overseas. 

“The most immediate barometer is the inflow of project registration,” he said. Once a project is registered with the BOI or any government investment promotion agency, there is already an assurance that the project will push through. The BOI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority have high batting average in realizing project approvals. 

For instance, Pascual further reported of the 16 big ticket projects worth $1.2 billion that are expected to flow in within the year. Of these projects nine are already operational and are already exporting while the remaining seven are still under processing with the BOI Greenlane. 

Pascual said there are 15 are also with letters of intent or local partners but are just completing their documentation for registration with the BOI or with other investment promotion agencies. 

“In general, we based on our discussions during our trips abroad, the interest of the Philippines is still growing, but as you know, it takes a while to really decide on investment is that something like just deciding to buy certain piece of goods. The decision process takes much, especially when you're talking about the implementation, the implementation,” Pascual said earlier. 

He, however, said that it is not easy for companies to immediately make a decision as these will go through their principals and feasibility studies. Investments in renewable energy projects, he said, could take at least three years to materialize. 

The floating solar renewable energy projects, for instance, has a long gestation period of at least three years.