Total investment pledges jumped 31 percent to P245.2 billion in 2015 from P187 billion in 2014, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday.
The PSA collated the data based on projects approved by seven investment promotion agencies—Board of Investments, Clark Development Corp., Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, as well as the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, BoI-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.
Netherlands ranked first among the sources of investments, committing P82.7 billion, or 33.7 percent of the total. Japan and South Korea ranked second and third, with investments of P54.7 billion and P23.2 billion, respectively.
By region, Region IVA stands to receive the largest amount of foreign investments valued at P115.7 billion, or a 47.2-percent share. The region is followed by the National Capital Region with pledges amounting to P34.1 billion, or 13.9 percent, and Cordillera Administrative Region accounting for P26.3 billion, or 10.7 percent.
The projected employment from approved investments in 2015 declined 40.3 percent to 169,075 jobs from the 283,354 expected a year ago. The administrative and support service activities are poised to generate the most number of jobs at 51,290.
Meanwhile, investment commitments in the fourth quarter climbed 45.6 percent to P138.6 billion from 95.2 billion in 2014.
Approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals in the fourth quarter rose 43.7 percent to P332.3 billion from P231.2 billion in the October-to-December period in 2014.
“Filipino nationals continued to dominate investments approved during the quarter, sharing 58.3 percent or P193.7 billion worth of pledges,” said national statistician Lisa Bersales.
The top three prospective investing countries in the fourth quarter of 2015 were Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. Japan’s investment pledges reached P39.4 billion for a 28.5-percent share, while The Netherlands and the US committed P37 billion and P16.5 billion, or 26.7 percent and 11.9 percent of the total, respectively.
“Manufacturing received the largest amount for approved foreign investments during the quarter at PhP 95.8 billion or 69.1 percent,” Bersales said.
She said the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector followed with investment commitments valued at P18.1 billion or 13.1 percent, followed by the administrative and support service activities at P14.3 billion, or 10.3 percent.
The projects approved by the seven investment promotion agencies in the fourth quarter were expected to generate about 38,906 jobs, or 36.7 percent lower than the previous year’s projected employment of 61,424.
“Out of the total anticipated jobs for the period, 79.1 percent would come from projects with foreign interest. Among the industries, administrative and support service activities is expected to have the most number of jobs to be generated at 14,588,” the PSA said.