Total foreign investments (FI) approved in the fourth quarter of 2021 reached PhP 133.47 billion, higher by three-fold compared with PhP 36.49 billion in the same quarter of 2020. These investment pledges were from five investment promotion agencies (IPAs), namely: Board of Investments, BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Clark Development Corporation, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.  No investment approvals from foreign nationals were reported by Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority. (Figure 1, and Tables 1 and 2A)

The FI commitments for the fourth quarter of 2021 were mainly driven by investments from Singapore which accounted for 59.4 percent of the total approved FI, followed by Netherlands (18.4%) and Japan (1.1%). Singapore committed PhP 79.30 billion, while Netherlands and Japan pledged PhP 24.54 billion and PhP 1.44 billion, respectively. (Table 3A)

Information and Communication industry bested all other industries as it stands to receive PhP 127.17 billion or 95.3 percent of the total FI pledges. Manufacturing came in second with investment commitments valued at PhP 2.13 billion or 1.6 percent share, followed by Administrative and Support Service Activities with PhP 2.08 billion or 1.6 percent FI contribution. (Table 4A)

Majority of the approved foreign investments during the fourth quarter of 2021 amounting to PhP 127.32 billion(95.4%) were intended to finance projects classified as “Nationwide” or situated in different parts of the country. This was followed by CALABARZON with PhP 1.90 billion(1.4%) and Central Luzon with PhP 1.46 billion(1.1%).(Table 5A)

Approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached PhP 406.97 billion in the last quarter of 2021, an increase of 49.8 percent compared with PhP 271.59 billion in the same period of the previous year. Filipino nationals continued to dominate the investments approved during the quarter, sharing 67.2 percent or PhP 273.50 billion worth of pledges. (Tables 7A and 8A)

Total approved projects of foreign and Filipino investors in the fourth quarter of 2021 were projected to generate 34,403 jobs. Out of the total anticipated jobs for the period, approved projects with foreign interest were projected to generate 19,447 jobs based on reports of the IPAs. (Tables 6A and 11A)

DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

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