1 week Ago By N/A (Derco Rosal)
Although recovering from the 11-year-low inflows in December last year, foreign investments at the start of 2025 declined by 20 percent to $731 million, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). BSP data showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows fell from the $914 million net inflows in the same month last year. Net FDIs represent the total foreign investments that flowed into the Philippines, minus those that exited.
According to the BSP, the double-digit drop in net inflows in January was mainly due to the nearly 38-percent drop in foreign residents’ net investments in debt instruments to $519 million from $833 million a year ago. But the shift of foreign investors to equity capital, alongside reinvestment of earnings, partly offset this drop, turning January 2024’s net outflows of $11 million into net inflows of $88 million in 2025. Reinvestment of earnings also increased by 36 percent to$125 million from the $92 million recorded in January last year.
Most equity capital came from Japan, the U.S., Singapore, and Malaysia, with funds largely directed toward the manufacturing, finance, insurance, and real estate sectors.
January net inflows are equivalent to over seven percent of the $10 billion that the central bank forecasts the Philippines will pull in this year. To recall, net FDIs stood at $8.93 billion in 2024, nearly the same figure as the $8.
925 billion recorded in 2023..
