MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday welcomed the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) report which showed that foreign investments in the country surged by 143 percent to hit a seven-month high of USD1.64 billion in May this year.
“We are pleased to announce that the Philippines has maintained again its investor confidence,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.
“According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s Foreign Direct Investments net inflows gained a total amount of USD1.64 billion in May 2018, marking a seven-month high since October 2017 with USD 1.92 billion,” he added.
Citing the BSP, Roque said May 2018 foreign investment growth recorded a 142.9 percent increase compared to last year’s 677 million dollars of the same month.
Likewise, the January to May 2018 recorded a 49 percent increase reaching a total amount of US 4.8 billion compared to last year’s US 3.3 billion of the same period.
Roque, meanwhile, hailed the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) announcement that the Philippines’s first cube satellite Maya-1 was successfully launched into orbit from the International Space Station last Friday.
“The satellite with a measure of 10 centimeter each side is expected to help the country in identifying natural hazards, monitoring health conditions of people in remote areas and tracking endangered species and fish vessels,” Roque said.
Roque pointed out the Maya-1 was launched together with BHUTAN-1 from Bhutan and UiTMSAT-1 from Malaysia.
He said these satellites are expected to form a constellation of satellites with data capture and store and forward capabilities. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)
