By Elaine Ramos Alanguilan

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority said it remains upbeat on investment prospects this year.

Peza sees investments growing at least 10 percent export receipts and new jobs improving by 5 percent despite the global financial crisis.

?We are optimistic that investments would increase by 10 percent. Employment will improve by 5 percent this year compared with the 2.5 percent increase posted last year,? said Ecozone Authority director- general Lilia de Lima said at the Bulong Pulungan forum held at Hotel Sofitel yesterday. ?Exports are also seen bouncing back to grow by 5 percent from last year?s contraction of 0.8 percent fueled by exports from other sectors like shipbuilding,?

The business community, meanwhile, was less upbeat, acording to the Grant Thornton International Business Report released by audit and tax advisory company Punongbayan & Araullo.

?Filipino business leaders expect turnover, exports and profitability to dip this year compared to 2008 as they brace for the full effects of the global financial crisis,? said the survey.

De Lima said interest in the country?s economic zones as an investment destination had been sustained as the government stepped up efforts to further improve the business environment.

?We should not be happy with flat investment growth for this year, we should be more upbeat. Investments in new ecozones in the agro-industrial sector, tourism, medical tourism, business process outsourcing and information technology-enabled services and retirement should make up for the slack in the traditional sectors like electronics,? said De Lima.

She said hard hit by the global credit crunch were electronics and car parts. Exports generated from the ecozones last year contracted by less than a percent year-on-year because of the slowdown in global demand in the last quarter of 2008.

About 3,000 employees from 15 locator-firms were retrenched as a result. Several companies are now implementing four-day workweeks and extended vacation leave for employees in a bid to stay afloat amid the crisis.

De Lima said with the lull in demand, companies were re-training their staff and re-tooling factories in anticipation of the recovery.

?I am optimistic that because of the credit crunch, companies will look for low-cost manufacturing sites for their industrial redeployment and this will create new opportunities for us being one of those countries with sound value proposition for investors,? said De Lima.