Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — On Monday (October 12), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed that about about $458 million worth of foreign direct investments (FDI) flowed into the country last July. The figure is 1.6 percent compared to the $451 million logged during the same month last year.
Net equity capital investments increased by an annualized 45.3 percent to $152 million, as a $173 million rise in placements exceeded withdrawals of $21 million. According to the BSP, the bulk of such placements came from Singapore, Hong Kong, the U.S., Japan, and the U.K.
Investments were mainly channeled to financial and insurance activities, which captured almost half of the increase in total equity placements. In addition, reinvestment of earnings increased by 31.7 percent to $79 million.
Investments of non-residents in debt instruments or intercompany borrowings — consisting mainly of loans from parent companies abroad to their Philippine affiliates — were 20.7 percent lower at $227 million from $286 million.
Despite July’s increase, FDI net inflows from January to July stood at $2.5 billion, 35.2 percent lower compared to $3.8 billion during the same period last year. Net equity capital placements slightly increased by one percent to $805 million from $797 million. However, this was not enough to offset a 51.6 percent fall in debt instrument investments and a 12.7 percent drop in the reinvestment of earnings.
Equity capital placements during the first seven months of the year amounted to about $1 billion, and came mostly from the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Germany.
