THE Board of Investments (BoI) is looking to raise this year's investment approval target to P1.6 trillion given a record first half and other positive developments.

Trade Undersecretary and BoI Vice Chairman Ceferino Rodolfo said the bureau could drop the current goal of P1.5 trillion as approvals were now more than over half of that.

This is also despite the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas having reported that actual foreign investments had fallen to a 10-month low in April.

Net foreign direct investments totaled $556 million in April but were much lower compared to the $881 million posted a year earlier and March's $686 million.

"Notwithstanding the [year-on-year] drop by 37 percent, but considering that the overall number is still up from 18 percent from January to April and considering the pipeline, let's just say that we are thinking of adjusting the upper limit [of investment approvals] to P1.6 trillion," Rodolfo told reporters on Monday.

Investment pledges approved by the BoI, meanwhile, surged to P950 billion in the first six months of 2024, 36 percent higher than the year-earlier P698 billion. The result was said to be the highest six-month tally in the agency's 57-year history.

Rodolfo also noted that projects approved under the agency's green lane services had hit P2.32 trillion as of June 20 and that actual registered projects amounted to P1.31 trillion.

"In effect, you still have P1 trillion that are not yet registered but are in the pipeline," he said.

The government, he claimed, was aggressively promoting and converting pipeline leads to actual registrations.

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