By Business World, July 11 2019

https://www.bworldonline.com/boi-oks-27-more-investment-pledges/

Image Credit to Business World

THE BOARD of Investments (BoI) approved 27.4% more committed investments last semester from a year ago, fueled especially by power projects, the agency said in a press release on Wednesday.

BoI, which accounts for bulk of such pledges among the seven major state investment promotion agencies tracked by the Philippine Statistics Authority, said it approved P304.4 billion worth of such proposed projects last semester, compared toP238 billion in 2018’s first half.

Investment pledges are different from foreign direct investments tracked by the central bank which represent actual capital flows.

Domestic investments made up more than three-fourths of the total value of projects approved by BoI at P235.6 billion, up five percent from P223 billion a year ago, while foreign pledges grew nearly fivefold to P69 billion from P14 billion.

Singapore remained the biggest source of foreign pledges with P35.4 billion, followed by the Netherlands with P9.2 billion, Thailand’s P8.5 billion, Japan’s P5.8 billion and the United States’ P2.4 billion.

Power projects accounted for bulk of BoI-approved committed investments last semester at P192.4 billion, 77.8% more than the year-ago P108.2 billion.

Calabarzon, just south of Metro Manila, continued to be the number-one investment location with P201.2 billion, followed by Central Luzon (P27.7 billion), Metro Manila (P11.3 billion), Cagayan Valley (P8.7 billion) and Central Visayas (P7.7 billion).