Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority fell 11.5 percent in the first 11 months to P57.07 billion from P64.46 billion in the same period last year.
Acting PEZA director-general Tereso Panga said the agency expected to approve more investment commitments in December.
“With two more board meetings scheduled this December, we are confident that we can achieve our target of 6 to 7 percent increase in 2022 approved investments compared to last year’s,” he said.
The number of approved projects went down by 21 percent in the 11-month period to 181 from 229 a year ago. Employment and exports grew by 4.62 percent and 4.68 percent, respectively.
Exports from economic zones from January to November went up to $54.23 billion from $51.81 billion, while employment expanded to 1,850,842 from 1,768,986 workers.