The skyline of Cebu City’s southern district from the viaduct of the Cebu South Coastal Road. Cebu City is dubbed as the Queen City of the South for being one of the economic drivers in Central Visayas as well as in the entire Visayas and Mindanao region.| CDN Digital Photo Raul Constantine Tabanao.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Pledges from foreign investors for Central Visayas dropped by 23.1 percent in 2019, recent figures from the government showed.
This as the Philippines posted a record-breaking P390.1 billion worth of approved foreign investments (FI) for the entire 2019, accounting for an increase of 112.8 percent.
Figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), on Thursday (February 20), showed that FI pledges for Central Visayas in 2019 generated approximately P2.87 billion, which is around P860 million lower compared to the P3.73 billion made in 2018.
The decrease in the amount of FIs in the region accounted for 23.1 percent, PSA noted.
FI refers to the practice of business owners and firms of investing in a foreign country. These commitments turn into foreign direct investments, usually involving the establishment of business interest, when materialized.
Drop in Filipino-owned pledges, too
Data from PSA also showed that the combined commitments of Filipinos and foreigners to establish businesses in Central Visayas fell by 57.8 percent in 2019.
In 2018, a total of P67 billion pledges were made. However, in 2019, these only amounted to P28.3 billion.
Calabarzon (Region IV-A) had the largest share of foreign investment pledges among all regions in the country for 2019, after netting P108.5 billion. It was followed by Central Luzon with P28.6 billion, and National Capital Region (NCR) with P23.8 billion.
Central Visayas came next to NCR.
Investments covered in PSA’s report are those approved by seven investment promotion agencies (IPAs) – Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) as well as the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM), and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).
Singapore, S. Korea, China
PSA also disclosed that Singapore is the top source of FI pledges for 2019, amounting to P176.8 billion. The commitments from companies based in Singapore were up by 732.6 percent from 2018.
China came second with P88.7 billion, and South Korea at third with P41.5 billion.
Japan is the fourth source of potential investments with pledges in 2019, totaling to P19.9 billion. It was followed by the Netherlands with P14.4 billion.
The United States ranked seventh, with FI pledges at P11.7 billion./dbs