Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority jumped 89.4 percent in the first seven months to P132.6 billion from P70 billion it received a year ago, a top official said Tuesday.
Peza director-general Charito Plaza said the higher investments were led by an increase in the number of projects coming into the economic zones.
She said 363 projects registered with Peza as of July 2017, up from 308 projects recorded in the same period in 2016.
Direct employment in the economic zones also increased 6.4 percent to 1,357,684 million as of end-July, from 1,275,842 individuals a year earlier.
Data from Peza showed that investments in manufacturing increased 26.8 percent in the seven-month period to P21.55 billion from P16.98 billion a year ago, while investments in economic zone development surged 95 percent to P75.4 billion from P38.64 billion in 2016.
The agency said despite the notable increases in manufacturing and ecozone developments, investments in the information technology sector slowed 33.35 percent to P8.14 billion from P12.22 billion in the same period last year.
Investments in other sectors climbed 591 percent to P15.11 billion from P2.18 billion a year ago.
Plaza attributed the strong investment performance to the confidence of foreign and local investors in the present administration.
She said the growth in investments, exports and employment was expected to continue over next five years as more investors looked at the Philippines as a prime investment destination.
Plaza said investors from countries outside the traditional investment sources now have great interest in Philippine economic zones. She said investments from the Middle East and China were projected to support the growth in the remaining months of 2017.
