FDI inflows up 46% in February
The net inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the Philippines increased by 46.3% to $893 million in February, following a 16% contraction at the start of the year.
According to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), this growth is caused by the government containing the possible resurgence of the COVID-19 virus in the country.
As a result, the net FDI inflow from January to February went up by eight per cent to $1.71 billion from $1.58 billion in the same period last year, as net investments in debt instruments grew by 29.3% to $1.36 billion from $1.05 billion.
The BSP said that “the growth in FDI reflected mainly the continued infusion of funds by non-resident direct investors to their local subsidiaries.”
However, capital infusion from Japan, the US, and Kuwait that went to manufacturing, financial, insurance, and real estate industries fell by 49.4$ to $234 million from $462 million a year ago, while withdrawals plunged by 62 percent to $30 million from $79 million.
Likewise, reinvestment of earnings slipped by 1.2% to $152 million from $153 million.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael Ricafort expects the FDI net inflow to improve further in the coming months as MetroManila and nearby provinces shifted to Alert Level 1 last March.
Ricafort added that FDIs remains to be one of the “bright spots and one of the major pillars” of the country’s economic recovery program from COVID.
