Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority climbed 18.6 percent in the first four months to P48.75 billion from P41 billion a year ago, amid the resurgence of the manufacturing sector.
Peza director-general Lilia de Lima said the number of projects approved by the agency in the four-month period also rose 11 percent to 208 from 187 projects a year earlier.
Exports of locators in economic zones slightly went up by 0.7 percent to $7.06 in the first two months of 2016 from $7.03 billion in the same period in 2015.
De Lima said manufacturing remained the biggest contributor to inbound investments.
“But information technology is catching up. There are existing IT parks that are expanding locations while there are also some that are just setting up operations in the Philippines,” she said.
Investments in the IT sector jumped 129.1 percent to P9 billion from P4 billion in the same period last year. The number of IT projects also grew 28.8 percent to 85 from 66, while IT exports grew 21.4 percent to $1.75 billion from $1.4 billion.
Direct employment by all enterprises in economic zones reached 1,255,476 as of end-April, up from 1,287,505 a year earlier.
IT accounted for almost half of the manpower at 581,565 people as of end-April, up 12.1 percent from 518,739 in the same period in 2015.
The agency said of the approved IT projects, Daiichi Properties committed the biggest investment of P2.92 billion this year to develop a financial center at the Bonifacio Global Center.
The biggest investment in the manufacturing sector was a P2.3-billion rubber and plastics facility.
Meanwhile, Peza, the Dangerous Drugs Board and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency signed Tuesday a memorandum of agreement to assist investors in bringing in the required chemicals needed by companies in the course of their manufacturing in the Philippines.
De Lima said PDEA would now allow the entry of low-concentration chemicals usually used by manufacturers without clearance from the agency.
Regulated drugs still need clearance from DDB and PDEA.