The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is bullish to achieve 6-7 per cent growth in total investments in 2022 compared to 2021, a senior official from PEZA told a group of investors, landlords and developers during a forum hosted by Leechiu Consultants and IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).
In her presentation, Vivian S. Santos, PEZA Deputy Director General for Operations said the board is set to meet tomorrow, December 15, and one of the key points that will be presented is the positive growth trajectory.
Of the 421 PEZA ecozones nationwide, 300 are IT parks and centers, 78 are dedicated to manufacturing, while 23 are agro-industrial parks. Tourism and medical tourism comprise of 17 and 3 ecozones, respectively.
Over 1.7 million workers are directly employed across these ecozones, with investments amounting to Php4.076 trillion from 1995 to 2021. This has translated to $982.619B of exports in products and services.
IT-BPM soaring ahead
Of these numbers, 1,088 IT-BPO related businesses are responsible for 1,080,115 jobs and $14.003 billion in export income. Through the years, the IT-BPM industry has been recorded as the largest private-sector employer providing sustained growth with 1.55M full-time employees (FTEs).
IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) President Jack Madrid underscored that the Philippines’ IT-BPM services industry is poised to become country’s largest single source of foreign exchange by 2028 – increasing FTEs by 1.1 million individuals, reaching a total of 2.5 million employees and generating $59 billion in annual revenues, equivalent to a 10.4 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in six years’ time.
Should this forecast be attained by 2028, this will be equivalent to a contribution of no less than 8.9 per cent of the Philippines’ GDP, with a potential to generate 2.7 million indirect employment as well. Madrid is also optimistic that 600,000 of the 1.1 million new jobs will come from the countryside, equivalent to 40 per cent of the total number of new hires with the Greater Metro Manila area filling in the rest of the 60 per cent by 2028.
IBPAP also envisions the Philippines transforming its IT-BPM sector as the top experience destination across CX, EX, and UX filling the world’s demand for high-complexity and high-skill category jobs.
For his part, David T. Leechiu, Chief Executive Officer at Leechiu Property Consultants highlighted that 2022 witnessed the strongest recorded demand on office leasing since the start of the pandemic, with no less than 975,000 sqm of office take-up. This is equivalent to an 81 per cent rise in demand compared to FY 2021’s numbers.
Metro Manila captured the majority of the office lease demand by 724,000 sqm or 74 per cent, while provincial transactions had 251,000 sqm demand, equivalent to 26 per cent. This is on top of another 352,000 sqm of live requirements which is expected to be carried on to 2023.
PEZA’s performance
As of November 2022, PEZA recorded P57 billion in investments across 181 projects. There are also 1,850,842 individuals who are directly employed as of the latest figures in October 2022, with exported services reaching $54.239 billion. In 2021, PEZA registered P69 billion in investments.
PEZA has been enticing Middle Eastern investors who are engaging in various sectors like infrastructure, oil refineries, and ecozone development to choose to invest in the country.
According to PEZA website, there are six UAE enterprises registered in PEZA which contribute P383.405 million in investments, $19.027 million of exports and employ 1,409 Filipino workers as of November 2021.
