The Department of Trade and Industry is confident the Board of Investments will achieve the investment target of P680 billion by the end of 2018.
“Right now we’re short of P100 billion. But since there remains a few projects scheduled for approval, we are positive that we will deliver,” said Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments managing head Ceferino Rodolfo over the weekend.
Three major projects may get the approval of the BoI before December 15. These are construction-related businesses either in cement or the steel manufacturing sector, a big-ticket tourism project and infrastructure.
The projects were mostly Filipino-led, entailing massive amount of investments, Rodolfo said.
The BoI earlier hinted that the agency would approve the projects by mid-December this year.
The BoI approved investment pledges of P515.9 billion in the first 10 months of 2018, up 26 percent from P408.8 billion year-on-year.
The agency said foreign direct investment pledges in the January-to-October period jumped 157 percent to P39.3 billion from P15.3 billion a year ago.
Among the main sources of FDIs were Indonesia with P6.4 billion; Malaysia, P2.9 billion; Japan P2.8 billion; Australia, P1.1 billion; China, P1.1 billion; the US P612 million; Italy, P485.7 million; Singapore, P404.1 million; and Switzerland P357.7 million.
The BoI approved the investments of Petron Corp. for its P81.9-billion condensate processing complex project; FGEN LNG Corp.’s P62.5-billion LNG Terminal Project; Pulangi Hydro Power Corp.’s P38-billion renewable energy development of hydropower resources project; and Citra Central Expressway Corp.’s P25.7-billion Metro Manila Skyway project.
Other approved investments were SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp.’s P24.1-billion heavy steel section project; Solar Philippines Commercial Rooftop Projects Inc.’s P19-billion, P13.6-billion, and P13.6-billion solar energy development projects; APO Agua Infrastructure Inc.’s P13.3-billion bulk water supply project; and Ionic Cementworks Industries Inc.’s P12-billion cement production project.
Energy/power, manufacturing, transportation and storage, construction/infrastructure and real estate were the top five key industries that boosted the latest investment approval figures.
A significant increase in manufacturing investment projects was also noted, with commitments up 271 percent to P142.862 billion from just P38.474 billion in the same period last year.