APPROVED investment pledges may hit P1.6 trillion this year, amid expectations of higher inflows of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and the pipeline of green lane-endorsed projects, a Trade official said.
Board of Investments (BoI) Managing Head and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said the positive outlook stems from the central bank’s hike in projected FDI net inflows this year.
“(The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) increased its projection to $9.5 billion despite the drop in net FDI in April, and considering that the overall January-April number is still up and the pipeline of projects is still up, we are thinking of adjusting the upper limit to P1.6 trillion,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Tatak Pinoy Act Forum on Monday.
Latest BSP data showed FDI net inflows fell by an annual 36.9% to $556 million in April, the lowest level in 10 months.
This brought FDI net inflows in the January-to-April period to $3.525 billion, up 18.7% from $2.971 billion a year ago.
The BoI had previously set an internal target of approving P1.25 trillion to P1.5 trillion in investment pledges this year.
The latest figures from the BoI showed that investment approvals reached P950 billion in the first six months, representing 59.4% of the agency’s P1.6-trillion target for the year.
In 2023, the BoI approved P1.26 trillion worth of investment pledges.
Mr. Rodolfo said the pipeline of projects under the green lane has also added to the optimistic outlook for higher investments this year.
The government had established the green lane in all government agencies in order to speed up the approval and registration process for priority or strategic investments.
As of June 20, P2.32 trillion worth of projects were endorsed to its One-Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments since it was established last year.
“But the total projects that were registered out of that are only P1.31 trillion. So, in effect, we still have P1 trillion worth of projects that are not yet registered but are in the pipeline,” he added in mixed English and Filipino.
The majority or 65 of the projects certified for the green lane system are renewable energy (RE) projects with a combined cost of P1.95 trillion.
In its report, the BoI said that only 32 out of the 74 projects approved since last year are already registered with the BoI, with a total project cost of P1.31 trillion. The remaining 42 projects worth P1.02 trillion are still being eyed for registration.
Mr. Rodolfo said that BoI will remain very aggressive in promoting and converting projects in the pipeline to actual registration.
Last month, Trade Secretary and BoI Chairman Alfredo E. Pascual said that 65 projects worth around $19 billion have been realized so far from the deals secured during President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s trips.
Of the projects initiated, 12 are already operating and are registered with an investment promotion agency. These are valued at $328 million.
Some 21 projects worth $1.6 billion have registered but are not yet operating, while 32 projects valued at $17 billion are in the process of registering.
The initiated projects account for 30% of the $61.3 billion worth of investment leads gathered during the President’s trips, which covers 201 projects. — Justine Irish D. Tabile