MANILA (XINHUA) – Foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing into the Philippines dropped by 34 per cent in May 2023 to reach USD488 million from the USD739 million net inflows in May 2022, the Philippine central bank said yesterday.
“The decline in FDI net inflows reflected the 70.7-per-cent contraction in non-residents’ net investments in debt instruments to USD161 million from USD551 million in the same month last year,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
Meanwhile, the BSP said non-residents’ net investments in equity capital other than reinvestment of earnings increased by 158.7 per cent to USD235 million from USD91 million.
“FDI remains subdued due to the effects of relatively higher prices and interest rate levels globally,” the BSP added.
The BSP said the bulk of the inflows in May came mainly from Germany, Japan, and the United States. “These were invested largely in the manufacturing and real estate industries,” the BSP said.
The BSP said the January to May FDI net inflows dropped by 20.8 per cent to USD3.4 billion from USD4.3 billion in net inflows posted in the same period in 2022.
