BOI hikes investment target by 50% to P1.5 trillion in 2023

February 26 ------ The Board of Investments (BOI) has revised its growth target this year from P1 trillion to P1.5 trillion, citing strong investment approvals early this year and robust pipeline of investment leads, including those committed during President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s official foreign trips.

“I have raised the 2023 investment registration target of BOI from P1 trillion to P1.5 trillion,” said Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual, who is also BOI chairman, in a statement.

The new investment growth target also considers the various projects committed during President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s official visits overseas. The President has embarked on offensive investment promotion campaigns overseas. To date, Marcos has been to 8 official and state visits where he generated various investment commitments from multinational firms. Pascual reported that the recent Japan trip alone of the President has generated $13 billion worth of investment commitments from Japanese companies that could translate to the creation of 24,000 jobs.

Pascual said the BOI, the government premier investment promotion agency, has welcomed his challenge to work on the new investments target for the year. “Of course, I thank the President for his hard work in promoting the Philippines as a hub for sustainability and innovation-driven manufacturing and services in the region,” he said. “The increase in investments proves that the government’s promotional visits abroad led by no less than the President himself, are working as a growing number of investors from around the globe, from Southeast Asia, the US, Belgium, China, and most recently Japan, have shown strong interest in putting in more investments into the country,” he boasted.

In addition, Pascual expressed confidence that the country’s participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership can contribute in pushing investors to decide on setting up operations in the Philippines. According to Pascual, the current investment leads include IT-BPMs, renewable energy, manufacturing, and data centers. Other investments are expected to come from other sectors such as green metals, telco towers, sea cable infrastructure, electric vehicles, light manufacturing, including EV supply chain.

Earlier, Pascual said the agency still has potential investment leads of around P344 billionthat will still be processed and more likely than ever. Pascual also noted that BOI foreign investment approvals in less than two months this year already accelerated to P163 billion, a stunning 65,436 percent growth from just P249 million in the same period in 2022. It was also 47.6 percent higher than the P170.3 billion approved in the entire year of 2022.

Based on latest BOI figures (Jan. to Feb. 9, 2023), the bulk of foreign capital is from Germany with P157 billion followed by the Netherlands (P2.7 billion), Japan (P524 million), the United States (P509 million), and the United Kingdom (194 million). Conversely, BOI registered the largest approvals in 2022 among the investment promotion agencies (IPAs), P729 billion of P927 billion, equivalent to 76 percent of total IPA foreign and domestic approved investments.

“BOI-approved foreign capital for barely the first months of 2023 has already reached 56 percent of the total figure for all IPAs last year. So, this year looks very promising with heightened prospects and through our collective efforts, we are on course to surpass the 2022 figure way ahead of time,” Pascual said.

Source: mb.com.ph