PEZA exports climb 54% in January
By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
March 5, 2010, 4:09pm
Exports of economic zone enterprises went up 54 percent in the first month of the year compared to January 2009 while employment figure was also up 11.3 percent, indicating a strong economic recovery in the country’s economy, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority reported.
PEZA Director-General Lilia B. de Lima said in a report to Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila, who is also chairman of PEZA, that total exports in January reached $3.133 billion in January from $2.034 billion in January 2009.
Employment also improved by 11.3 percent to 637,759 from 572,836 in January last year.
According to De Lima, the privately-owned economic zones accounted for the biggest chunk with $2.183 billion worth of exports in the first month of the year, reflecting a 56.898 percent increase over $1.391 billion exports in January 2009.
The government-owned ecozones in Cavite, Bataan, Mactan, Cebu and Baguio contributed a total of $652.556 million in exports or 59.830 percent higher than the January 2009 exports of $408.281 million.