PEZA OKs nearly P200-B projects in BBM’s 1st year

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) on Monday has approved projects costing P198.8 billion during the first year of the Marcos administration.

In its recent report, PEZA said these investment pledges came from 206 projects that registered with the agency from July 2022 to June 2023. Of the 206 projects, 11 were big-ticket ones with capital of at least P1 billion. Investments of these big-ticket projects reached P155 billion — a total of P119.3 billion for ecozone development, P33.95 billion for export manufacturing, and P1.76 billion for ecozone facilities.

Ememployment in PEZA zones also climbed from 1,772,509 last year to 1,805,770 this year with the 33,261 new jobs created in the first year of the Marcos administration.

“We continue to contribute to the overall positive performance of the administration and serve as a tool to constantly attract investments in the country and promote the Philippines as an investment haven in Asia,” PEZA director general Tereso Panga said.

“We remain optimistic that we will sustain our positive growth trajectory for the 2nd half of the year, given the notable increase in our KPIs (key performance indicators) on investments, jobs and exports from a more aggressive whole-of-government approach in investment promotion,” Panga added. (With PNA)