Investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments reached P137 billion as of March 19, up 64.6 percent from P83 billion registered in the same period last year.
Trade Secretary and BOI chairman Ramon Lopez said investments in the Philippines continued to increase despite the pandemic.
“Last year, we hit P1.02 trillion. For perspective, this is a bit lower compared to 2019 which was P1.14 trillion. We still achieved over a P1 trillion in investments considering the impact of the pandemic to the economy. And we continue to sustain the momentum until the first quarter of 2021,” Lopez said during a broadcast meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte Wednesday night.
Lopez said these projects were expected to generate 12,000 new jobs, up by 13.28 percent from 10,605 jobs in the same period in 2020.
He said the compliance by industries and establishments to the minimum health protocol increased the confidence of investors in the country as a manufacturing base.
Constant monitoring of establishments revealed a high compliance rate of between 75 percent and 97 percent for operational capacity, wearing of proper face masks, wearing of proper face shields, adequate ventilation, frequent disinfection and appropriate physical distancing.
The BOI also held meetings with six local companies on their plans for vaccine manufacturing including Glovax Biotech Corp. for its proposed P7 billion vaccine plant in the country. Glovax also revealed preparedness to bring 44 million doses of second generation COVID-19 vaccines from Korea.
“We’re exploring this kind of investments, so we won’t have to rely on imported vaccines in the future,” Lopez said.
Manufacturing efforts of repurposed facilities for health essentials were also sustained throughout the pandemic and would continue, he said.