The province generated a remarkable investment in 1997 when it recorded total investment of Php 16.522B. Infrastructure & services sector contributed 92% of the total with the bulk of the investment poured in Cagayan de Oro City. The investments were largely attributed to the development of mixed-used property development projects of Pueblo de Oro & Xavier Estates and other high-end subdivision projects.

New investments went down in the years that followed (1998- 2002) due to economic crisis in Asia, the devaluation of the currency but mainly by the political and Mindanao crisis. The investment figure picked up again in 1999 owing to the endorsement for funding of the Mindanao Container Terminal Port Project of the Phividec Industrial Estate by the Miyazawa Initiative amounting to PhP4.8B. Pryce Gases’ expansion project also contributed to this figure.

The growing affluence and increasing market influence of the city attracted the retail giants, Shoemart and Robinsons in 2002.