Foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows amounted to $731 million in January 2025, down by 20 percent from $914 million recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.
The BSP blamed the decline in FDI net inflows to the 37.7-percent decrease in non-residents’ net investments in debt instruments to $519 million from $833 million.
Net investments in debt instruments consist mainly of intercompany borrowing and lending between foreign direct investors and their subsidiaries or affiliates in the Philippines.
This was tempered by the shift in nonresidents’ net investments in equity capital (other than reinvestment of earnings), which turned to a net inflow of $88 million from a net outflow of $11 million a year earlier.
Nonresidents’ reinvestment of earnings also rose 36 percent to $125 million from $92 million seen in January 2024.
Equity capital placements in January 2025 came primarily from Japan, the United States, Singapore and Malaysia.
These investments were channeled mostly to the manufacturing, financial and insurance and real estate industries.
FDI net inflows remained broadly stable and settled at $8.9 billion in 2014.
Japan was the top source of FDIs in 2024, followed by the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore.
The BSP statistics on FDIs cover actual investment inflows, while the approved foreign investments data published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) are sourced from investment promotion agencies (IPAs) which represent investment commitments, which may not necessarily be fully realized in a given period.
