Investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) grew at a robust pace in the first two months of the year, making it on track with its investment approval targets for the year.

In a statement, PEZA said approvals in January and February went up by 18.7 percent to P12.1 billion, higher than the P10.194 billion in the same period last year.

'The significant upswing in our investment performance within two months underscores our commitment to achieving our target of P250 billion investments for this year,' PEZA director-general Tereso Panga said.

The total approved investments which include 28 new and expansion projects, could generate $661.095 million worth of exports, and create 3,580 direct employment.

Bulk of the investment approvals at P9.884 billion was approved during the PEZA board's meeting on Feb. 16. This covered 16 projects composed of nine ecozone enterprises, three IT enterprises, one domestic market, two ecozone logistics services and one developer.

These projects are expected to generate $591.476 million in exports and create 2,243 direct jobs.

The projects will be located in the First Philippine Industrial Park II, Daiichi Industrial Park, Light Industry and Science Park III, Laguna Technopark, PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate - Economic Zone, Lima Technology Center, Mactan Economic Zone II, People Technology Complex, 1 Nito Tower in Cebu City, Embarcadero De Legazpi in Legazpi City, Albay, Light Industry and Science Park IV and Hermosa Ecozone Industrial Park.

'Notably, one of the new projects pre-qualified by the board is engaged in the manufacture of solar wafer cells and will start its operations in July 2024,' PEZA said.

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