The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is optimistic that investment pledges will reach more than P100 billion this year despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
In a virtual briefing on Monday, PEZA Director General Charito Plaza said several investors including a company from Israel expressed interest to locate its existing 16 branches in the Philippines.
“An Israeli investor is looking at transferring 16 branches from China. We [had a meeting] last week and we are now helping them to facilitate their application with PEZA,” said Plaza.
“We are now helping them register so that the 16 branches in China will be brought to the Philippines. We might exceed more than P100 billion this year with all these possible responses of our present investors and incoming investors,” she added.
Plaza did not disclose the name of the Israeli investor and the amount of possible investments but said that some of its pioneer projects include flying vehicles, green technology, green farming systems, and power generation equipment.
“We will have a MOU (memorandum of understanding) first then we will help them find the appropriate economic zone to locate their 16 branches coming from China,” the PEZA chief said.
According to Plaza, existing investors also manifested that they will continue with their expansion plans, bring in new products, expand their facilities, and increase their workforce.
PEZA earlier reported that investment pledges in January to October this year declined by 26.8 percent to P72.64 billion from P99.32 billion in the same period last year.
In 2019, investment pledges approved by PEZA amounted to P117.54 billion.