PEZA expects CREATE MORE to unlock more investments

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said that its investment approval targets — set at P200 billion this year — will be achievable when amendments to the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprise (CREATE) Act take effect.

PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga told BusinessWorld that he expects the passage of the CREATE to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) bill to spur more investment.

“With the impending passage of the CREATE MORE bill, we remain hopeful that more investors will register their projects with PEZA and other investment promotion agencies (IPAs),” Mr. Panga said via Viber.

“This is in preparation for the expected upturn, particularly in the global electronics industry, including demand for electronics products and electric vehicles,” he added.

Last week, the Senate ratified a bicameral conference report on the CREATE MORE bill, which seeks to lower taxes on domestic and foreign companies to 20% from 25%.

Apart from lowered taxes, the bill also seeks to return to investment promotion agencies the power to approve or deny tax incentives up to a certain threshold, farming out some of the powers currently held by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board.

According to a preliminary report from the Philippine Statistics Authority, electronics exports grew 2.5% in the seven months to July to $23.88 billion, representing 56% of all exports during the period.

PEZA reported approvals of P6.9 billion worth of investment applications at a board meeting on Aug. 27.

The latest approvals brought PEZA’s total greenlighted investments in the first eight months to P61.62 billion, or 30% of its target for the year.

Mr. Panga said PEZA will be maintaining its P200-billion investment approval target for the year.

“The ASEAN outlook in 2024 remains robust, and so is the Philippine economy with our declining inflation rate and consistent gross domestic product growth forecast, which makes the country one of the best-performing economies in the region,” he said.

“As such, we in PEZA are keeping our P200-billion investment approval target for the year within reach,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile