Investment commitments in the Subic Bay Freeport dropped 46 percent to P3.63 billion in 2017 from P6.71 billion in 2016.
Data from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority showed investments from new investors fell 60 percent to P6.35 billion from P2.54 billion despite an increase of 66 percent in the number of new locators.
The data showed that the number of new investors climbed 66 percent in 2017 to 239 from 144 in 2016.
The number of expanding projects also rose 70 percent to 63 in 2017 from 37 a year ago.
Despite a surge of 203 percent in investments from expanding locators to P1.09 billion from P0.36 billion in 2017, total employment in 2017 fell 1.8 percent to 4,309 workers from 4,389 in 2016.
The BCDA said exports from the Freeport increased to $2.33 billion from $1.69 billion while imports grew 11 percent to $1.17 billion from $1.6 billion.