FDI surges 112% in Aug

MANILA, Philippines - Jobs-creating foreign direct investments more than doubled in August as more affiliates and units of foreign firms expanded their operations in the Philippines.

In a report, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said FDI surged by 112 percent to  $299 million in August from  $141 million in the same period last year.

Equity capital or investments made by foreign companies in their Philippine units surged 329 percent to $180 million from $42 million, with the bulk of the placements coming from the US, Thailand, the Netherlands, Sweden and Singapore.

The BSP said most of these funds were channeled to financial and insurance, manufacturing, transportation and storage, real estate, and administrative and support services sectors.

Placements in debt instruments also went up 31 percent to $59 million from $45 million, the data showed.

“This developed as parent companies abroad continued to lend funds to their local subsidiaries or affiliates to fund existing operations and expand their businesses in the country,” the BSP said.

At the same time, reinvestment of earnings climbed nine percent to $59 million from $54 million.

The recent FDI figure boosted the eight-month tally by 59 percent to $4.306 billion from $2.709 billion in the same period last year.

“FDI inflows remained robust, buoyed by investors’ confidence in the economy on the back of the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals,” the BSP said.

Equity capital investments rose 65 percent to $1.046 billion from $635 million, while reinvestment of earnings increased by 53 percent to $517 million from $338 million.

Placements in debt instruments also grew 58 percent to $2.743 billion as of August from $1.735 billion.

Last year, net FDI increased 20 percent to $3.86 billion, surpassing the central bank’s $2.1-billion assumption for 2013. The BSP expects net FDI inflows to reach $1 billion this year.