PEZA-okayed investment pledges down 27% in Q1

Investment pledges approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) dropped to P16.4 billion in the first three months of 2020, which the agency blamed on the continued lack of clarity on the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (Citira) and the coronavirus pandemic.

Data from PEZA showed on Wednesday that the pledges approved from January to March were a 27-percent decrease from the P22.9 billion posted in the same period last year. The number of approved projects also slipped by 32 percent to 87 from the year-earlier 12.