Foreign direct investments surge to $2.2 billion in April

MANILA — Net inflows of job-generating foreign direct investments (FDI) jumped to the highest-ever monthly figure of $2.2 billion in April as the Philippines’ economic star shone in the region and attracted greater investor interest, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.

Data showed net FDI inflows last April surged from $364 million a month ago and $382 million a year ago, which BSP said was “reflective of the favorable investment climate as the economy continued to post strong growth and show even better growth potentials.”

The Philippine economy grew by a better-than-expected 6.9 percent in the first quarter, with full-year growth expected to be within a “conservative” 6-7 percent, a range still better than most forecasts for its ASEAN neighbors.

The average economic growth of 6.2 percent in the first five years of the previous Aquino administration was also the fastest since the late 1970s, such that Aquino’s economic managers had declared that the Philippines was no longer Asia’s sick man, but now a rising star in the region.

In a statement, the BSP said net inflows were posted across all FDI components at the start of the second quarter.

According to the BSP, the bulk of the net inflows in April was made of debt instruments — overseas-based parent firms’ lending to their affiliates in the country in order to finance existing operations as well as expansion, which hit $1.3 billion, up 371.6 percent year-on-year.

Net equity capital placements, meanwhile, reached $825 million or 3,199.3-percent higher year-on-year, as gross equity capital placements rose 2044.1 percent year-on-year to $839 million, outpacing withdrawals that the BSP said “remained low” and dropped 6.3 percent year-on-year to $13 million.