Total investments approved by the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) posted a 60-percent increase for the first quarter of 2019, reaching 243 billion pesos (about 4.6 billion U.S. dollars), compared with the 152.1 billion pesos (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) posted for the same period in 2018, government data showed on Monday.
"This marks a solid recovery from the 23-percent decline for the January to February period," the board said in a statement released on Monday.
Of these, the board said investments from foreign sources continued to lead in terms of growth rate with a jump of 3,787 percent, from only 792.8 million pesos (15.1 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter last year to 30.8 billion pesos (586.2 million U.S. dollars) this year.
Data showed the Netherlands topped all foreign investors with 9.1 billion pesos (173 million U.S. dollars) worth of investments. Thailand finished second with 8.4 billion pesos (159.9 million U.S. dollars) and Japan placed third with 5.3 billion pesos (100.89 million U.S. dollars) worth of investments.
The data further revealed that the United States came in at the fourth place with 2.2 billion pesos (41.9 million U.S. dollars) worth of investments.
In terms of actual levels however, the board said domestic investments still contribute the largest share with 212.2 billion pesos (4 billion U.S. dollars) for a 40-percent increase from last year's 151.3 billion pesos (2.88 billion U.S. dollars).
"After generating a record-breaking 915 billion pesos (17.4 billion U.S. dollars) in approved investments last year, we are still sustaining the momentum this year due to steady, strong and positive investor sentiment here and abroad," Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez said.
Lopez said the upside trajectory for approved foreign investments continues to surge, following a 378-percent increase recorded in 2018 which saw FDIs approved by BOI reaching 104 billion pesos (1.98 billion U.S. dollars) from just 21.7 billion pesos (412.96 million U.S. dollars) in 2017.
"We expect the growth to continue for the rest of the year as we aim to approve at least 1 trillion pesos (19 billion U.S. dollars) in total investments," Lopez said.
The board said electricity and power projects dominated the majority of investments for the first three months of year with 148 billion pesos (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) worth of investment projects.
Manufacturing investment projects are also growing with 43 billion pesos (818.5 million U.S. dollars) worth of investment projects approved, followed by information and communications technology with 33.2 billion pesos (632 million U.S. dollars) worth of investment projects, the board added.
Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Ceferino Rodolfo emphasized the stringent evaluation process these projects undergo, prior to extensive deliberations when these are taken-up by the BOI Board of Governors for decision.
"For the power projects for instance, aside from technical and financial assessment and demand gap evaluation, we require positive official endorsement by the Departments of Energy and of the Environment and Natural Resources," Rodolfo said.
Moreover, he said BOI also required the proponents "to commit to emission standards which are very much stricter than local and international requirements. Failure to meet these commitments would mean forfeiture of incentives."
