Approved foreign investments down 36.2% in Q1

Published June 04, 2020 11:44 AM By JON VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA News

Total foreign investments (FI) approved by the Philippine government fell by 36.2% in the first three months of the year, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday revealed.

According to PSA data, the FI fell to P29.4 billion in January to March from P46.0 billion the same period in 2019.

Investment pledges during the period came mostly from six investment promotion agencies -- Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), Board of Investments (BOI), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

"No investment approvals were reported from BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM) for the reference quarter," the PSA said.

Most of the commitments stemmed from the United Kingdom, which accounted for 20.9% of total FI, equivalent to P6.1 billion.

This was followed by the United States of America with P5.7 billion (19.6%), and the People's Republic of China with P4.9 billion (16.7%).

In terms of job generation, approved investments were expected to make 34,814 jobs, 17.6% lower than the 42,245 projected employment the previous year.—AOL, GMA News
 

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