PSA: Approved Q2 foreign investments hit ₧59.1B

of June 2023. Agency officials said they were targetting to increase its BUR to 55 percent this month.

“While everybody, of course, supports additional budget for the DOT, it’s very important for the DOT family to really show that it can fully absorb our current budget,” she said, trying to address concerns of fellow House members over the DOT’s P2.99budget for 2024, which was 20 percent less that its appropriation this year of P3.73 billion. She underscored the disappointing growth in the local economic output, which slowed down to 4.3 percent in the second quarter due to the 7-percent contraction in government spending. Analysts had been projecting the gross domestic product to grow by 6 percent in the second quarter.

The DOT budget includes allocations to the Office of the Secretary (P2.65 billion), Intramuros Administration (P75.95 million), National Parks Development Committee (P252.76 million), and the Philippine Commission on Scuba Sports Diving (P14.56 million). (See, “Tourism’s a priority, but agencies get P3B less fund,” in the BusinessMirror, August 8, 2023.)

TOTAL Foreign Investments (FI) approved in the second quarter of 2023 was recorded at P59.09 billion, 27.8 percent higher than the P46.26 billion in the same quarter of 2022, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In a statement on Tuesday, PSA said these investments were pledges from the following Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), namely: Board of Investments (BOI), BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM), Clark Development Corporation (CDC), Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

PSA said no FI approvals were reported by the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), Poro Point Management Corporation (PPMC), and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza).

The Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (ZCSeza), the latest addition to the list of IPAs covered by this report, also had no approved FI in the second quarter of 2023.

Of the total approved FIs for the second quarter of 2023, Japan posted the highest investment commitment of P20.36 billion, or 34.4 percent; followed by Singapore at P17.65 billion or 39.9 percent; and Cayman Islands at

Remittances. . .

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United Arab Emirates.

P11.63 billion or 19.7 percent.

By sector, manufacturing received the largest amount of approved investments at P35.07 billion or 59.3 percent of the total.

This was followed by Information and Communication with P13.92 billion or 23.6 percent share, and Administrative and Support Service Activities with P3.33 billion or 5.6 percent share.

Real Estate Activities received the largest amount of approved FI.

Approved Investments of Foreign and Filipino nationals in the second quarter of 2023 were expected to generate a total of 31,218 employment.

This indicates a 63.5 percent annual growth from the 19,094 expected employment in the same quarter of the previous year. Of this total employment, 67.9 percent would be absorbed by foreign investment projects, PSA said.

Among the regions, Soccsksargen received the largest share of pledged investment of P19.39 billion or 32.8 percent of the total approved FIs for the second quarter.

This was followed by Calabarzon with P14.64 billion or 24.8 percent; and the National Capital Region with P3.12 billion or 5.3 percent.

The total Approved Investments of Foreign and Filipino nationals reached P317.23 billion, or 218.4 percent higher than the reported amount of P99.64 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. Filipino nationals contributed P258.14 billion or 81.4 percent. Andrea E. San Juan reach stability, i.e., stay at positive levels. Remember that even during the pandemic, migrants abroad tried to send more money,” Opiniano said. grow as fast as ours is around 6.8 percent. Beyond that it would be dangerous for the economy. So it's 3.8 percent in real terms,” Remolona added.

T he BSP governor was responding to Sen. Imee Marcos’s query regarding the direction of the present 6.25-percent policy rate of the BSP—whether it would be maintained or would still increase.

Marcos explained, partly in Filipino, where she was coming from:

“That is one of the reasons being blamed for the slowed economic performance in the second quarter.”

Remolona said that having a policy rate of as much as 6.8 percent would not impede the economy’s growth.

“Hindi iyon makasasagabal sa ekonomiya [It won’t derail the economy],” he said.

Earlier, Remolona noted that the country is “nearing our full capacity” in terms of interest rates. This means, if the Monetary Board will raise interest rates on August 17, it cannot be too high.

Continued from A1 Neda.

“I think we’re very close to our full capacity at this point so that means, if we’re going to hike, we have to be very careful not to hike too much; [maybe just a little] but if we’re gonna cut, there’s room to cut. So wait until August 17,” Remolona said.

Meanwhile, resorting to a pause, Remolona said, will only happen if the Monetary Board gets conflicting data or those inconsistent with each other.

The BSP Governor added that the Monetary Board will consider the forward guidance of the United States Federal Reserve as well as the BSP when making its decision. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/08/07/phl-may-overshoot-inflation-target-bsp/)

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Opiniano said it might be “too early” if there is a plateau happening already in terms of the growth rate of cash remittances in the first half, citing seasonality of remittances.

Historical BSP data showed that the increase in cash remittances during a January-to-June period has been within the vicinity of 3 percent since 2018, excluding the pandemic-struck years of 2020 and 2021.

“There may be unpredictable trends in regard to the growth rates of remittances. There is a ‘season’ for remittances, such as during tuition payments and perhaps Christmas,” Opiniano said.

“So it may be too early to tell that there’s a plateau happening already. [But] I do not expect remittances to jump its growth rates to over-10 percent. Gone are those days,” he added.

BSP data showed that the 3.6-percent growth in cash remittances last year was the slowest full-year growth recorded since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

“But given that the world is now moving forward from this pandemic, hopefully remittance incomes transmitted home will

Continued from A1 percent target range in the second semester.

If inflation can be cut to 3 percent in the second semester, he said the country can pull up its growth by an additional 0.1 percentage point for the period.

B alisacan also cited the need to accelerate the execution of government programs and projects, including the delivery of public services and formulate catch-up plans on missed spending during the first semester.

The Socioeconomic planning chief said the catch-up spending for public construction activities may add up to 0.3 percentage points in the country’s economic growth in the second semester.

Meanwhile, he said, implementing the catch-up plan on maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and personnel services (PS) will boost growth by 0.5 percentage points in the second semester.

To achieve the growth target set for 2024, Balisacan said “the government will continue to implement the strategies we have set in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, guided by the President’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda.”

This in turn, also guides the

In June alone, cash remittances reached $2.81 billion, about 2.1 percent over $2.75 billion posted in the same month last year, according to the BSP.

“The expansion in cash remittances in June 2023 was due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers,” the BSP said.

Personal remittances allocation of government resources to various programs and projects that will contribute to the attainment of the government’s socioeconomic agenda,” Balisacan said.

THE BSP said personal remittances from overseas Filipinos in June rose by 2.2 percent to $3.13 billion from $3.06 billion a year ago.

The BSP attributed the increase to higher remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year.

“Similarly, cumulative personal remittances grew by 3.0 percent to $17.59 billion in the first half of 2023 from $17.09 billion recorded in the comparable period in 2022,” the BSP said.

“Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Japan,” the BSP added.

To strengthen people’s purchasing power, the government will still pursue priority measures that ensure food security and reduce transport, logistics, and energy cost. Balisacan briefed senators on the country’s economic performance, growth outlook and priorities for next year at the Committee on Finance’s hearing Tuesday on the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

At the same hearing, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno briefed senators on the status of the National Government’s revenue collection. He assured them the Department of Finance will continue its prudent debt management as it prioritizes domestic financing to prevent external vulnerabilities.

Budget and Managemen t Secretary Amenah Pangandaman cited the highlights of the proposed FY 2024 National Expenditure Program For FY 2024, Pangandaman said the proposed national budget is P5.768 trillion, or 9.5 percent higher than the P5.268-trillion budget for 2023.

The Senate Committee on Finance chairman, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, presided over the discussions on the proposed P5.768trillion budget. The 2024 NEP is equivalent to 21.7 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With Butch Fernandez