ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Foreign investment pledges double in fourth quarter

Foreign investment pledges double in fourth quarter

In 2023

Published Feb 15, 2024 06:12 am

At A Glance

  • Foreign investment pledges approved by the government rose by an annual 127.2 percent from October to December, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
  • Total foreign investment commitments jumped to P394.45 billion in the last quarter from the P173.61 billion recorded in the same period of 2022.
  • These pledges were made to and approved by the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, the Board of Investments, Clark Development Corporation, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
  • The Netherlands accounted for the biggest value of investment committed, at P345.76 billion or 87.8 percent of the quarter's total, followed by Japan and Singapore.

Foreign investment pledges more than doubled in the last quarter of last year, with the energy industry accounting for the majority of the investments, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

Based on the PSA report, total foreign investments approved by investment promotion agencies (IPAs) totaled P394.45 billion from October to December, higher by 127 percent than the P173.61 billion in the same quarter of 2022.

The PSA said these investment pledges were from IPAs, including the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, the Board of Investments, Clark Development Corporation, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

“However, no foreign investment approvals were reported by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Clark International Airport Corporation, John Hay Management Corporation, Poro Point Management Corporation, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority,” the PSA noted.

Most of the pledges made were to the electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply industries with a total of P335.87 billion or 85.1 percent of the total approved foreign investments.

Manufacturing placed second with P48.96 billion or 12.4 percent share, while administrative and support service activities ranked third with P5.70 billion or 1.4 percent share.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael Ricafort said that the biggest energy investments were due to the need to reduce carbon emissions and the approval of 100 percent foreign ownership in renewable energy.

He also cited the free trade agreement signed between the Philippines and South Korea last year and the country’s membership in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which is the world’s biggest free trade agreement, as one of the factors in the improvement of foreign investment data.

The Netherlands was the Philippines’ biggest source of approved foreign investments as it accounted for P345.76 billion or 87.8 percent of the total in the fourth quarter.

It was followed by Japan with P31.37 billion (8.0 percent), and Singapore with P4.99 billion (1.3 percent).

Among the regions in the country, 41.3 percent of the approved foreign investments in the last quarter were for projects in Bicol region amounting to P162.92 billion.

Eastern Visayas came in next with P108.30 billion or 27.5 percent share, followed by Ilocos region with P58.52 billion or a 14.8 percent share.

Approved investment pledges from foreign sources and Filipino nationals reached P585.15 billion in the third quarter, up 20.8 percent from P484.53 billion in the same quarter of 2022.

Investments from Filipino nationals amounted to P190.69 billion or 32.6 percent share in the last quarter.
 

Related Tags

Philippine Statistics Authority Foreign direct investments (FDIs)
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.