By Ayen Infante
03/29/2008 [ tribune.net.ph ]
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) has recorded a total investment of P25.865 billion, up by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of the year as against P24.542 in the same period last year.
Peza director general Lilia de Lima said more projects are expected to come in by the second half of the year mostly from the investment missions that the Philippines has lined up for 2008.
De Lima even made a promise to bring home from her trip in Taiwan next month big-ticket projects in the electronics and semiconductor sectors.
“I will not come home zero from Taiwan,” she said. De Lima is also set to visit Japan and other countries that she declined to mention until details of the mission are finalized.
Despite the decline in the number of projects including new and expansions in the month of March, Peza has posted a significant increase in investments particularly in the same month when total investments amounted to P11.548 billion, up by 169 percent from P4.294 billion in the same period last year.
Projects registered during the first three-month period reached 129 or 21-percent higher from 106 projects in the same period last year. But projects listed in March alone went down by 8 percent to 24 from 33 projects in March last year.
Employment also grew by 6.8 percent to 22,953 from 21,490 additional jobs in a year ago level.
But projected annual export sales dipped by 75 percent to $1.409 billion as against $2.471 billion in the same period last year. Investments in the IT (information technology) amounted to P6.793 billion from P6.036 billion last year.
Top 10 exporters were Intel technology Philippines Inc. (located in Gateway Business Park), Texas Instruments Phils. (Baguio City Zone), Amkor Technology Phils. (Laguna Technopark Inc. and Phils. Associated Smelting Refining Corp. (Leyte Industrial Development Estate), Fujitsu Computer products Corp. of the Phils. (Carmelray industrial Park I), Toshiba Information Equipment Phils Inc. (Laguna Technopark Inc.), Panasonic Communications Corp. of the Phils. (Carmelray Industrial Park II), Tech Phils. (Laguna Technopark Inc.) and Samsung Electronics Phils. Corp.
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