Approved investment pledges in the first quarter of 2018 surged by more than half from a year ago, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Data posted on the agency’s website show that investment pledges in the January-March period reached P182.83 billion, 53.2% higher than the first three months of 2017 that logged P119.31 billion.

Of this, some 83.2% or P152.12 billion was approved by the BOI, while 16.8% or P30.72 billion was from PEZA.

The biggest chunk of investments went to electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply at P104.35 billion or 57.1%.

Real estate activities came in second at P27.24 billion or 14.9%; followed by manufacturing with P23.85 billion or 13.0%; water supply, sewerage, waste management with P13.87 billion or 7.6%, and transportation and storage with P7.01 billion or 3.8%.

Japan was the biggest country source of the approved foreign investments, with P7.86 billion or 57.2%, and significantly higher than the P0.61 billion investment commitment during the same quarter last year.

The United Kingdom came in next with P1.54 billion. This is followed by the Netherlands with P0.88 billion; Singapore with P0.56 billion; and the USA with P0.45 billion. — Janina C. Lim

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