Investment approvals by the Board of Investments (BOI) surged by 156 percent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2020, Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez said on Wednesday.

“Investments registered in our Board of Investments showed sustained growth of 156.02 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year, reaching P121.93 billion or $2.5 billion for two months,” Lopez said at the online Manila Forum of the Association of Philippines and China Understanding.

From January to February 2020, BOI approved P47.63 billion worth of investments from 51 projects, the investment promotion agency said.

Although this year, the number of projects was lower by 39 percent as these investments came from 31 projects from January to February this year, BOI data show.

In terms of employment, the P121.93 billion investments will generate 10,207 jobs in the future.

Job generation for the first two months of the year is 41.59 percent higher than the 7,209 employment in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the majority of the approved investments came from local sources.

Philippine-based companies registered a total of P115.72 billion worth of projects, while investments from foreign sources amounted to P6.21 billion.