Total foreign investments (FI) approved in the second quarter of 2019 amounted to PhP 49.6 billion from PhP 30.9 billion recorded in the same period of the previous year. The total approved FI by six out of seven investment promotion agencies (IPAs), namely the Authority of the Freeport Area Bataan (AFAB), Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) as well as Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) was 60.2 percent higher compared with the same period in the previous year. No report was submitted by the BOI-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BOI-ARMM). Meanwhile, the total approved FI for the first six months of the year reached PhP 95.6 billion or more than doubled from PhP 45.2 billion in the previous year.

The top three prospective investing countries in the second quarter of 2019 are Singapore, Japan, and the Netherlands.  Pledges from Singapore reached PhP 36.2 billion or 73.0 percent of the total approved FI while Japan and Netherlands committed PhP 4.0 billion and PhP 1.3 billion, or 8.2 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply would receive the largest amount of foreign investments in the second quarter of 2019. Investment commitments for Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply stood at PhP 35.7 billion or 72.0 percent share. Manufacturing came in second with investment pledges valued at PhP 6.1 billion or 12.4 percent share. Administrative and Support Service Activities followed at PhP 3.1 billion or 6.3 percent share.

The biggest approved foreign investments in the second quarter of 2019, amounting to PhP 41.4 billion or 83.4 percent would be intended to finance projects in Region IVA - CALABARZON. The second biggest, amounting to PhP 4.2 billion or 8.5 percent, was pledged to NCR - National Capital Region. Region III - Central Luzon followed with PhP 1.8 billion or 3.7 percent approved FI.

Investment commitments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached PhP 107.0 billion in the second quarter of 2019, down by 6.7 percent from previous year’s PhP 114.7 billion. Filipino nationals shared 53.7 percent of the total investment pledges during the quarter.

Total amount of projects by foreign and Filipino investors in the second quarter of 2019 are expected to generate 30,135 jobs. This number of jobs is 32.3 percent lower than the projected employment of 44,526 jobs in the same quarter in 2018. 

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D. 
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General