MANILA -- The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved a total of PHP1.14 trillion worth of projects in 2019, the highest in 52 years.
Data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) show that BOI-approved investments increased by 24.7 percent last year from PHP914.96 billion project approvals the previous year.
DTI Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez said Thursday the investment promotion agency (IPA) is still targeting a 10-percent growth on investment approvals in 2020.
Last year’s investment approvals exceeded the 10-percent target growth of the IPA.
Lopez remained optimistic that the BOI can hit the target growth for this year despite a higher base from 2019, as there are still big-ticket projects that the agency encourages to come within the next months.
The DTI said the number of projects last year grew by 1.35 percent to 376 projects from 371 projects a year ago.
Bulk of the approved investments was from local enterprises accounting for 71 percent of the total approvals. This amounted to PHP804.98 billion in 2019, slipping by less than a percentage from 2018’s value of PHP810.99 billion.
Project approvals from foreign sources, on the other hand, surged by 222.9 percent to PHP335.74 billion in 2019 from PHP103.97 billion in 2018.
The PHP1.14-trillion investment approvals with the BOI are expected to create 61,622 jobs in the country. (PNA)
