Philippines Foreign Direct Investment

Net foreign direct investment into the Philippines dropped by 2.9 percent to USD 566 million in September of 2019 from USD 582 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, net equity capital investments jumped 182 percent year-on-year to USD 96 million, as equity capital placements came mostly from Japan, Taiwan, the US, Hong Kong and the Netherlands; being channeled mainly financial and insurance, manufacturing and real estate industries. Meantime, investments in debt instruments reached USD 395 million, lower than a USD 618 million; while reinvestment of earnings declined by 9.4 percent to USD 74 million from USD 82 million in the corresponding month of the previous year. Year-to-date, net FDI inflows totaled USD 5.1 billion, down 36.9 percent from USD 8.1 billion a year earlier.

Net foreign direct investment into the Philippines dropped by 45.1 percent to USD 0.42 billion in August 2019 from USD 0.76 billion a year earlier. Net equity capital investments declined by 55.3 percent to USD 0.77 billion from USD 0.17 billion in the same month last year. Equity capital placements came mostly from Japan, the US, Hong Kong, Cayman Islands, and Singapore; being channeled mainly to manufacturing, real estate, financial and insurance, information and communication, and wholesale and retail trade industries. Meantime, investments in debt instruments reached USD 0.26 billion, lower than a USD 0.53 million; while reinvestment of earnings grew by 46 percent to USD 0.77 billion from USD 0.53 billion in the corresponding month of the previous year. Year-to-date, net FDI inflows totaled USD 4.5 billion, down 39.7 percent from USD 7.5 billion a year earlier.

Net foreign direct investment into the Philippines declined by 41.4 percent year-on-year to USD 0.54 billion in July 2019 from USD 0.93 billion a year earlier. Net equity capital investments decreased to USD 0.10 billion from USD 0.26 billion in the same month a year ago. Equity capital placements came mostly from Japan, Germany, Singapore, the US and South Korea; being channelled mainly to financial and insurance, real estate, manufacturing, and human health and social work industries. Meantime, net investments in debt instruments dropped to USD 0.36 billion from USD 0.59 billion while reinvestment of earnings grew 15.8 percent to USD 0.09 billion from USD 0.08 billion recorded in July 2018. Year-to-date, net FDI inflows totaled USD 4.1 billion, down 39.1 percent from USD 6.8 billion a year before.

Net foreign direct investment into the Philippines declined by 48.5 percent year-on-year to USD 0.43 billion in June 2019 from USD 0.84 billion a year earlier. Net equity capital investments decreased to USD 0.03 billion from USD 0.18 billion in the same month a year ago. Equity capital placements came mostly from Singapore, the US, Japan, the Netherlands and China; being channeled mainly to real estate, manufacturing, financial and insurance, electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply; and transportation and storage industries. Meantime, net investments in debt instruments dropped to USD 0.32 billion from USD 0.57 billion while reinvestment of earnings grew 8.3 percent to USD 0.09 billion from USD 0.08 billion recorded in June 2018. Year-to-date, net FDI inflows totaled USD 3.6 billion, down 38.8 percent from USD 5.8 billion a year before.

Net foreign direct investments in the Philippines plunged 85.1 percent year-on-year to USD 0.2 billion in May 2019, the lowest level since March 2015, from USD 1.63 billion in the same month of the previous year. Net investments in debt instruments fell to USD 149 million from USD 1.3 billion a year earlier due to higher prepayments and repayments of debt owed by resident enterprises to their foreign affiliates. Meantime, net investments of equity capital dropped to USD 1 million from USD 241 million. Capital infusions came mostly from the United States, Japan, Singapore, China, and Hong Kong and were channeled mainly to real estate, manufacturing, financial and insurance, construction and human health and social work industries. Meanwhile, reinvestment of earnings increased by 15.9 percent to USD 92 million in May. In the first five months of 2019, FDI net inflows decreased 37.1 percent to USD 3.1 billion from USD 5 billion in the same period last year.

Net foreign direct investment into the Philippines declined by 11.8 percent year-on-year to USD 0.96 billion in April 2019 from USD 1.1 billion a year earlier, in part due to the high base of 2018. Net equity capital investments fell by 85.5 percent to USD 0.04 billion from USD 0.27 billion in the same month a year ago. Equity capital placements came mostly from Thailand, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan; being channeled primarily into financial and insurance, real estate, manufacturing, electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply; and construction industries. Meanwhile, net investments in debt instruments rose 12.6 percent to USD 0.83 billion from USD 0.74 billion a year ago; and reinvestment of earnings grew 14 percent to USD 0.09 billion from USD 0.08 billion recorded in April 2018. Year-to-date, net FDI inflows totaled USD 2.9 billion, down 14 percent from USD 3.4 billion a year before.