INVESTMENT approvals ballooned by 59.1 percent in the first half of 2025, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said on Wednesday, hitting P72.362 billion from P45.481 billion a year earlier.
The PEZA said that its board had approved 133 projects that were expected to generate 32,983 direct jobs, higher than the 120 projects and 25,259 jobs recorded in January-June 2024.
Eight of these projects will bring in more than P50 billion if realized, the investment promotion agency said.
“We are reaping the fruits of our aggressive promotion efforts, investor-centric reforms and continued commitment to making the Philippines a competitive and resilient hub for global industries,” PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said in a statement.
“The confidence shown by both new and existing investors is a strong signal that our ecozones are thriving and open for business,” he added.
Projects involving the production of food and beverage products topped the list with 55 approved projects. Information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) followed with 39 and domestic-oriented enterprises were third with 12. Other approved projects involve facilities development (10 ), ecozone development (9), and utilities and logistics (4 each).
South Koreans were the biggest investors for the first half, followed by the Americans, Chinese, Dutch and Japanese.
Panga, who said, “the Philippines is surely in a sweet spot to attract foreign direct investments at this time,” expressed optimism that the PEZA would achieve its growth target of 9-10 percent for the year.
In June alone, the PEZA board approved 31 new and expansion projects worth P6.022 billion. These are expected to generate 3,646 direct jobs and contribute $166.426 million in export revenues if realized.
Most of the approved investments involve export-oriented enterprises at 14 followed by seven projects in the IT-BPM sector. The rest comprise four domestic market-oriented projects, four logistics operations projects, one involving facilities development, and one ecozone development.
The planned projects will be located in the Cordillera Administrative Region, National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Central Visayas and Davao.
“Apart from these projects, PEZA is actively pursuing and assisting over 50 investment leads through its robust investment promotion campaigns,” the agency said.
The PEZA was said to have welcomed high-level delegations representing the US, China, Japan, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as domestic exploratory missions, during the first half.
