...the PEZA

PEZA investments up 20.68% in Q1

By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

April 17, 2011

 
MANILA, Philippines -- Investments registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) grew 20.68 percent in the first quarter this year over the same period last year as more export-oriented enterprises chose to locate in the export zones.
 
PEZA director-general Lilia B. De Lima told reporters that its total investments haul in the January-March period this year amounted to P34.822 billion or 20.68 percent higher than the P28.854 billion approved in the same first quarter of 2010.
 
De Lima said these investments represent the combined project costs of 141 export-oriented projects, which are 14.63 percent higher than 123 projects registered in the same period last year.
 
In terms of direct employment, De Lima also reported that for the January-February period this year there were a total of 792,524 workers in the various ecozones in the country or 23.77 percent more than the 640,322 direct jobs in the first two months of 2010.
 
In addition, exports in the first two months grew 14.32 percent to $6.721 billion from $5.879 in the same January-February period of 2010.
 
PEZA has a total of 243 operating economic zones and 2,398 registered enterprises.
 
PEZA enterprises are entitled to a juicy package of fiscal and tax incentives including income tax holiday of a maximum of eight years and a five percent tax on gross income earned upon expiry of the ITH, among other perks.
 
For this year, PEZA is targeting P224 billion in new investments or 10 percent higher than its P204 billion total investments in 2010. Employment is also expected to hit 809,239 or 10 percent higher than last year.
For this year, PEZA exports are expected to hit $44.52 billion from $40.473 billion in 2010.
 
Since 1995, PEZA’s cumulative investments reached P1.724 trillion, generated $400.651 billion in exports and jobs of 792,524.
 
De Lima said the agency achieved this feat by continuing to attract export-oriented investors to its various economic zones including three government-owned economic zones in Baguio, Cavite and Mactan.
There are now 243 operating economic zones in the various ecozones administered by PEZA’s 537 employes.
 
De Lima was also positive that despite forecasts of economic slowdown in the region given the impact of disasters in Japan and the ongoing trouble in oil-rich North African countries, the agency can still surpass its growth targets this year for investments, exports and employment.
 
During the eight month period (July 2010 to February 2011) of the new administration of President Aquino, PEZA has created 19 new economic zones with 109 new export locators and 186 expanding companies for total investments of P138.203 billion. These companies have also generated 95,337 direct employment.
For the same period, PEZA also reported exports of $27.111 billion.