MANILA — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported Thursday that foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows in February this year jumped to USD573 million, or an increase of 46.4 percent compared to the same month in 2017.
BSP noted that increment in FDI net inflows was driven by strong growth in investments in debt instruments and equity capital.
Net debt instruments in February rose 56.3 percent to USD412 million this year from USD264 million in February 2017.
Likewise, net equity capital strengthened to USD96 million, as gross placements reached USD114 million while withdrawals posted USD18 million.
“Equity placements came mostly from Hong Kong, the United States, China, the Netherlands, and Japan,” the central bank said.
These equity placements were invested in sectors of art, entertainment and recreation, real estate, manufacturing, construction, and electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply activities.
On the other hand, reinvestment of earnings for February slightly slipped by 1.7 percent to USD65 million this year from USD66 million in the previous year.
For the first two months of 2018, FDI net inflows posted a 52.6-percent growth at USD1.49 billion from USD978 million in the same period in 2017.
Two-month investments in debt instruments expanded by 10 percent to USD793 million this year from USD722 million in January to February 2017.
Net equity capital year-to-date growth was even stronger at 375.1 percent amounting to USD569 million this year from USD120 million in the previous year, with bulk of the equity capital sourced from neighboring countries such as Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan.
Meanwhile, reinvestment of earnings slowed down by 5.2 percent to USD130 million in January to February 2018 from USD130 million in the same period last year. (PNA)
