MANILA — Approved foreign investments by investment promotion agencies (IPAs) took a big leap upward this year, rising 70.4 percent to PHP30.94 billion in April to June from only PHP18.16 billion during the same period in 2017.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s largest source of foreign investment commitments in the second quarter this year was Indonesia, pledging to infuse PHP6.4 billion.
Earlier, the Board of Investments (BOI) registered a PHP6.4-billion investment pledge from Indonesian company PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada, which holds a 25-percent stake in Citra Central Expressway Corp.
Citra Central Expressway is the operator of the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 Project that connects the Skyway Stage 2 in Buendia to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in Balintawak. With this infrastructure, motorists from NLEX now have direct access to South Luzon without passing the congested EDSA.
Citra is partnering with San Miguel Corp. for the project.
Moreover, Japanese companies remain among the top investors in the Philippines, registering projects worth PHP5.12 billion in Q2 2018, up by 6.6 percent from PHP4.8 billion in Q2 2017.
Other top foreign sources of investment approvals for IPAs in Q2 2018 include the United States with PHP4 billion, Malaysia with PHP3.52 billion, France with PHP2 billion, Singapore with PHP1.59 billion, and China with PHP1.38 billion.
Foreign investment approvals from January to June this year have remained firm with a 10-percent growth to reach PHP45.15 billion from PHP41.05 billion in the same period last year – despite economic uncertainties created by the rationalization of fiscal incentives and the proposed shift to federalism.
“We have to explain the real developments in the crafting of TRAIN 2 (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Package 2). That incentives won’t be removed, and in fact being enhanced, modernized, and making it more performance-based and time bound,” Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
“But on the other hand, there is a lowering of CIT (corporate income tax) from 30 percent to 20 percent in 10 years in the draft, which will benefit most number of enterprises,” Lopez added.
Meanwhile, combined pledges from foreign and Filipino sources declined by 14.8 percent in the first half of the year to PHP299.82 billion from PHP351.87 billion in the first semester (H1) of 2017.
Lopez attributed the lower project registration from Filipino companies to their timing of investments. “There are pending applications and those under study stage,” the official noted.
The total investment pledges in H1 2018 is expected to create 78,258 jobs in the country. (Kris Crismundo/PNA)
