MANILA – Total foreign investment (FI) pledges approved in the second quarter of the year more than tripled to PHP189.50 billion from PHP59.09 billion in the same period in 2023.
Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday showed that these investment pledges were from six Investment Promotion Agencies – the Board of Investments, BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Clark Development Corp., Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority.
The PSA said Switzerland was the biggest source of investment pledges amounting to PHP172.04 billion or about 90.8 percent of the total pledges during the period.
It was followed by Japan with PHP7.68 billion and Malaysia with PHP4.53 billion.
"The electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply industry received the largest amount of approved FI at PHP172.74 billion or 91.2 percent of the total approved FI," the PSA said.
This was followed by manufacturing with PHP12.39 billion, and administrative and support service activities with PHP2.84 billion.
Among the regions in the country, Negros Island received the largest share of investment pledges amounting to PHP86.46 billion.
This was followed by Calabarzon with PHP6.93 billion and Central Visayas with PHP4.35 billion.
The PSA said the total investment pledges of foreign and Filipino nationals grew by 125.4 percent to PHP715.01 billion from PHP317.23 billion in the second quarter of 2023 and are expected to generate 26,915 jobs.
It noted that of the total investment pledges in the second quarter, Filipino nationals contributed PHP525.51 billion. (PNA)
