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 The
Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic
Zone Authority approved 71 projects worth P10.3
billion in January and February, compared to only
59 projects worth P5.0 billion in the same period
in 2002. The Department of Trade and Industry
said these projects will generate 13,000 new jobs
in Western Visayas, Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog
and Southern Mindanao.
Foreign equity investments more than doubled
to P5.7 billion from P2.4 billion while Philippine
equity investments surged 78.5% to P4.5 billion
from P2.5 billion.
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Overseas
Filipino worker remittances dipped 2.9% in January
to US$534 million from US$551 million in January
2002. Monetary authorities cited the 2.9% decrease
in OFW deployment for the same period due to war
tensions over Iraq and threats of pay cuts in Hong
Kong. The Bangko Sentral believes OFWs have held
on to their dollars, expecting the peso-dollar exchange
rate to depreciate. In fact, remittances have started
to slow down year-on-year since December 2002. Contrary
to seasonal expectations, OFWs only remitted US$511
million compared to US$520 million in December 2001.
As a result, total OFW remittances amounted to US$6.9
billion, below the US$7 billion to US$8 billion
target in 2002.
