The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has approved a total of PHP140.7bn (USD2.54bn) investment pledges this year, more than double from the PHP69.3bn approved in 2021. This year's approval showed that investment pledges are now back to pre-pandemic levels. It is also the highest investment approval amount in five years. The investment approvals this year came from 198 projects, according to PEZA officer-in-charge Tereso Panga. PEZA’s target for this year is to grow by 6% to 7% by the end-2022. The bulk of these newly approved investment pledges were from three economic zone development projects worth PHP83.02bn, four manufacturing projects worth PHP502.98m, and six information technology (IT) service projects worth PHP125.17m.