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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Foreign investments rise to $1.56b

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An updated foreign direct investments report showed a 17-percent increase to $1.56 billion in the first three months of 2017, the Trade Department said Monday.

The department also noted that business confidence level in the Philippines rose to 43 percent in the second quarter of 2017 from 39 percent in the first quarter, indicating investments in 2017 may reach record high.

Consumer confidence also improved for the second quarter of 2017, climbing to a double-digit record high of 13 percent from 8.7 percent in the first quarter.

The increased investor confidence in the Philippines is reflected by the 41 percent rise in the number of companies and organizations from the international community that visited the country from July to December 2016.

Unemployment rate dropped to 5.7 percent in April 2017 from 6.6 percent in January.

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Government data showed that net inflow of FDIs in 2016 reached $7.93 billion, up 41 percent from $5.64 billion generated in 2015.

The Trade Department said the foreign investments level in the second semester of 2016 almost doubled compared with the first semester, “a clear indication of the growing foreign investor confidence in the country’s sound economic policies and attractive business environment.”

Moreover, the presidential visits resulted in several investments agreements and letter of intents among businessmen amounting to $37 billion, $18 billion in official development assistance loans and $4.3 billion worth of trade.

Total pledged investments with the Board of Investments in January to May 2017 increased 25 percent to P174.47 billion from P139.34 billion year-on-year.

The approved investments came from 218 projects with an estimated 51,847 additional jobs to be created.

Top sectors include real estate activities, mostly mass housing projects worth P68.74 billion; construction and/or public private partnership projects at P48.47 billion; renewable/power projects at P28.31 billion; and manufacturing at P15.75 billion.

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