Foreign direct investments, the kind that stays invested in the Philippines for the long haul, fell 34 percent in May to only $488 million, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday.
This compares against the year-ago inflows of $739 million and a reflection of elevated global prices that central banks around the world managed, the BSP included, in the form of high interest rates.
“The decline in FDI net inflows reflected the 70.7 percent contraction in non-residents’ net investments in debt instruments to $161 million from $551 million in the same month last year,” the BSP reported.
Non-residents’ net investments in equity capital (other than reinvestment of earnings) increased by 158.7 percent to $235 million from $91 million in May last year, it added.
Equity capital placements came mostly from Germany, Japan, and the United States and invested in manufacturing and real estate.
The cumulative five-month FDI net inflows also dropped 20.8 percent to $3.4 billion from net inflows of $4.3 billion in the same period last year.
