Foreign investments down 38.8 pct in Q2

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Total foreign investments approved by the Philippine government went down by 38.8 percent on year to P36 billion ($838.64 million) in the second quarter, the local statistics agency said today.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a statement that the top three investing countries in the April to June period were the Cayman Islands, Singapore, and British Virgin Islands.

PSA data showed that businessmen from Cayman Islands pledged P10 billion ($224.23 million) worth of investments in the second quarter.

The local manufacturing sector cornered half of the investment pledges during the period.

In the first six months of the year, foreign investments approved by the Philippine government summed up to P73.4 billion ($1.64 billion), 32.7 percent lower than the amount recorded a year ago.

Meanwhile, PSA said approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached P257.8 billion ($5.78 billion) in the second quarter, 45.8 percent higher than the level approved by the Philippine government in the same period last year.

Pledges from Filipino nationals reached P221.8 billion ($4.97 billion), accounting for 86 percent of total approved investments in the second quarter.