Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) in the first eight months this year reached P31.1 billion, boosted by Japanese investment contribution that account for the biggest share at 26 percent. Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) OIC Deputy Director General Tereso O. Panga said as he expressed confidence of continued Japanese projects in the PEZA ecozones. Panga said he gathered assurances of continued Japanese investments during recent meetings with the top executives of the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines, Inc. (JCCPI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Cavite Economic Zone Investors Association (CEZIA). Currently, he said, Japanese investments account for 27.2 percent of total ecozone investments and has been steadily increasing. For the January-August period this year alone, Japanese ecozone investments account for 26 percent share or P8 billion out of total P31.129 billion approved by PEZA. For the first seven months this year, Japanese firms exported a total of $10.215 billion with total employment of 350,486.
“Even amid pandemic and threat of global recession, we remain bullish that the Japanese will continue to be our number 1 investor in PEZA not only this year but for the many years to come,” he said. “Japan has always been ichi-ban. Overall, Japan is among the country’s top trading partners and traditionally, it has been the Philippines’ largest foreign investor next to the United States,” he added. To date, PEZA has registered 903 locator companies with Japanese equity generating a total investments of P735.9 billion and providing employment to 350,486 Filipinos. He cited the latest JICA reports on Japanese manufacturing companies’ investment outlook for the Philippines where the Philippines ranked no. 7 out of 20 promising countries/regions for overseas business over the medium-term based on the JBIC 2021 survey, and the Annual JICA Programs where the Philippines is the biggest recipient country in Southeast Asia for fiscal 2020 of JICA’s grants, technical cooperation, and finance and investment cooperation.