Projects registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority in the first 10 months of the year have reached P72.6 billion.
In her speech during the fourth quarter general membership meeting last week of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (SEIPI), PEZA Director-General Charito Plaza said PEZA’s investment approval in January to October was 27 percent lower than the P99.3B approved projects in the same period in 2019.
These came from 248 projects registered for the period, down by 45 percent from 454 projects last year.
On the other hand, export revenues in the economic zones slightly increased by 0.63 percent to $40.8B from January to September from $40.5B in the previous year.
“Despite the pandemic, PEZA continuously received expansions and new investments, same with the semiconductor and electronics, which still continue to contribute the biggest export income on commodities and goods,” Plaza said.
Investments from the semiconductor and electronics industry in PEZA reached P8.8B from January to October, declining by 24.7 percent from its P11.8B investments in the same period in 2019.
Exports of PEZA-registered semiconductor and electronics firms also slowed down by 8.2 percent by September to $16.7B from $18.2B in the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, data from SEIPI show total electronics industry exports in September alone reached $3.9B, an improvement of 14 percent compared to its previous month.
SEIPI president Dan Lachica earlier said the group revised the industry growth forecast for 2020 from -15 percent to -5 percent.
Lachica added 2021 will be a better year for the industry with a projected outlook of seven percent growth.
This will depend on the outcome of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises bill availability of the Covid-19 vaccine.
SEIPI chair Glenn Everest said there will be emerging technologies post-Covid, which the Philippine semiconductor and electronics industry may look into. – PNA
