DTI sees investment pledges reaching level of P1t this year

The Department of Trade and Industry said Tuesday it is confident of attracting P1-trillion worth of investments in 2022, matching the record P1.02-trillion worth of projects approved by the Board of Investments in 2020.

It said investments pledges registered with the BOI in 2021 fell 35.7 percent to P655.4 billion from P1.02 trillion.

“Buoyed by 2021 FDI results as well as the healthy pipeline of strong investment leads—both foreign and domestic, and with the reforms that we are anticipating to still be passed in the next months, we are confident of hitting P1 trillion in BOI-approved investments this year,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

The BOI downgraded the 2021 investments target to P750 billion from P905 billion, but still missed the revised target by 12.61 percent. It also fell short of the P905-billion target set by the Office of the President.

The BOI attributed the decline in investments last year to the rise in Delta cases as it also extended investors timeline for finalizing studies, decisions and registrations.

Data showed that while foreign investment approvals increased in 2021, the amount of registered domestic investments decreased by 48.1 percent to P503.6 billion from P970 billion.

Among the big-ticket projects approved last year were the P81.1-billion Makati City Subway project and the P25-billion Calatagan Cement Plant.

Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said mobility restrictions both on the global and local scale were the primary reason for not reaching the 2021 investment target.

“Because of the global surge in the Delta variant and now with the emergence of the Omicron variant, these resulted in global setbacks in economic recovery, which then translated into the implementation of stricter protocols in the country. We were hit hard during the second quarter and the early part of the third quarter last year,” he said.

Rodolfo said the strong investment leads in 2021 would add up by the second or third quarter of 2022.

The BOI focused on helping the micro, small and medium enterprises to reopen, businesses that were closed and those that continued their operations amid the pandemic.

Rodolfo also disclosed the approval of a P155-billion telecommunication project which is pending at the Fiscal Incentives Review Board.

Some projects in the pipeline include a new domestic shipping operator; new operator of electric vehicle charging stations; three new operators of telecommunications infrastructure; a new producer of animal feeds; and a cement manufacturer.

Other upcoming projects include hyperscalers in telecommunications and production of e-vehicles and COVID medicines.