Philippine Economic Zone auThority (PEZA) increased its approved investment commitments by 59% in the first six months of 2025, despite approval in June.
In a statement, PEZA said the board approved investment worth 72.362 billion p between January and June, an increase of 59.1% from the investment in P4.5481 billion p4.481 billion shares approved in the same period last year.
“This continued surge in investment recognizes Peza as an important engine for economic growth and job creation in the country,” PEZA director Tereso O. Panga said in a statement Wednesday.
He added: “The confidence shown by new and existing investors shows that our economic zone (ecology) is thriving and opening up operations.”
However, the PEZA board of directors approved only P6.4.4% worth of P6.022 billion in June, down 30.4% from P8.654 billion in the same month of 2024.
In June, the PEZA board of directors GreenLit 31 new and expanded projects are expected to bring in $166.42 million in export revenue and 3,646 jobs.
Fourteen of the approved projects will be conducted by export-oriented businesses, while seven will come from the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sectors.
The four projects involve domestic market-oriented enterprises, while the four projects are in logistics.
Another project involves ecological development, while one project involves facility development.
Most projects are expected to be located in the IV-A or Calabarzon region, while the remaining projects will be located in the central Luzon, the national capital region, the Davao region, the central Mishaya, Simishaya and Ilocos region.
Between January and June, PEZA approved 133 projects, which are expected to generate 32,983 jobs and have an export value of US$1.26 billion.
Most of these projects are in manufacturing, while 39 are IT-BPM projects, 12 are domestic market-oriented enterprises, 10 are facility development projects, and 9 are ecological development.
There are four utility projects and the other four are in logistics.
“Koreans were the biggest investors in the first half of the year, followed by Americans, Chinese, Dutch and Japanese,” Pezza said.
It added: “In terms of industry investment, the manufacturing of food and beverage products is at the top, followed by Ecozone development and IT-BPM.”
After the investment performance in the first half of the year, Mr Panga said he was “optimistic” that Peza will achieve its goals this year.
This year, PEZA approved at least pesos for investment, with real exports and employment increasing by 5%.
“The Philippines is certainly an excellent location to attract foreign direct investment, and of course, Filipinos and the entire country will soon get the results of hard work,” Panga said.
Peza said it is pursuing 50 investment leads, hoping that this will be translated in actual investment.
“PEZA also welcomes several high-level inbound delegations during the period of domestic exploration missions representing the United States, China, Japan, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Arab Emirates, and even the Philippines.”
It notes interest in electronics and semiconductor manufacturing services, advanced manufacturing activities, aviation, automotive and information technology enterprises-enterprise-enterprise enterprise process management departments. – Justin Ireland D. Table
