Tuesday, July 14, 2009 [ manilatimes.net ]
INVESTMENT pledges for the country’s economic zones (ecozones) picked up for a second month in June, according to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
Lilia de Lima, PEZA director general, told reporters that the amount of committed investments last month jumped 54 percent to P10.988 billion, from P7.132 billion in June last year.
Despite the upbeat June performance, first-half pledges are “still a little down” compared with last year, she said, without providing details.
The official said June is the second straight month when PEZA posted positive growth figures, following a slowdown in investments, exports and employment generation in the first four months of the year.
“The first four months of this year were very bad, but the last two months were very good,” she said.
The official had said investment pledges in May this year reached P9.75 billion, up 18.19 percent from P8.25 billion in the same month last year.
De Lima said the incentives-giving agency is maintaining its growth targets of 10 percent in investments, 5 percent in exports and 5 percent in potential jobs.
“I can feel it that we can catch up to our growth targets by yearend,” she said.
PEZA earlier reported that its first-quarter investment pledges dropped 51 percent from P27.7 billion last year to P13.7 billion this year.
-- Ben Arnold O. de Vera
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