MANILA, May 16 (Xinhua) — The Philippines’ total approved foreign investments in the first quarter of 2023 reached 172.70 billion pesos (3 billion U.S. dollars), higher than the 8.98 billion pesos (159.9 million dollars) recorded in the same quarter in 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.
The statistics agency said most foreign investment commitments for the first quarter were from Germany (90.9 percent), followed by Japan (2.2 percent), and the Netherlands (1.5 percent).
According to the agency, Germany committed 156.96 billion pesos (2.80 billion dollars), while Japan and the Netherlands pledged 3.82 billion pesos (68 million dollars) and 2.65 billion pesos (47.2 million dollars), respectively.
Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply had the highest pledges received or 90.9 percent of the total foreign investments. Manufacturing came in second with 6.1 percent investment commitments, followed by administrative and support service activities with 2.1 percent.
The PSA said the total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached 480.36 billion pesos (8.55 billion dollars) in the first quarter of 2023, 151.8 percent higher than that in the same period last year, and are expected to generate 25,453 employment.
Out of this total employment, the agency added foreign investment projects will absorb 76.3 percent.