Investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments jumped 102 percent in the first nine months of 2023 to P734 billion from P362 billion in the same period last year, an agency official said Tuesday.
BOI managing director Ceferino Rodolfo said in a news briefing at Malacañang the President’s working visits to other countries contributed much to the increase in foreign direct investments (FDIs).
“The President’s visits have been resulting in actual investment registration and approvals,” said Rodolfo.
The FDI component reached P427 billion in the first three quarters, representing 71.8 percent of the total approved investments for the period. This was 4,150 percent higher than the investments generated a year ago.
About 90 percent of approved FDIs from January to September could be tracked from presidential visits, Rodolfo said.
The BOI assesses over 80 percent of FDI applications in the country.
It noted that the share of FDIs to total investments generation increased to an average of 60 percent from 20 percent over the previous years, while the share of domestic investments fell to 40 percent from 80 percent.
Most FDIs are focused on four strategic industries, including renewable energy, telecommunications, mineral processing and high-tech manufacturing.
“For minerals processing, investors haven’t invested yet, but we are tracking private sector companies and their prospective foreign partners, in particular for nickel processing,” Rodolfo said.
He said many mineral processors are Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies.
Rodolfo said the improvements in policy measures also contributed to the confidence of investors to choose the Philippines as a preferred investment destination. These measures included the lifting of foreign ownership restriction in renewable energy projects, he said.
Several European countries that were not typically investing in the Philippines also started pitching for projects in the country, he said.
Germany emerged as the biggest foreign direct investor, accounting for 80 percent of FDIs during the period, followed by Japan.