Foreign investments up 52% at end-July

Long-term investment inflows into the Philippines continued to defy the outflow of short-term capital from the financial markets and the adverse sentiment brought about by high inflation and slowing economic growth, data from the central bank revealed.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, net inflows of foreign direct investments (FDIs) for the first seven months of 2018 increased by 52.1 percent to $6.7 billion from $4.4 billion last year.

BSP statistics on foreign direct investments cover actual investment inflows. This kind of capital stays in the local economy longer than portfolio investments, which are mainly in stocks and can be pulled out at a moment’s notice.

The surge in foreign investments from January to July was mainly on account of the expansion in net equity capital investments by more than five times to $1.8 billion from $338 million last year.

Gross equity capital placements grew by almost thrice to $2 billion, while withdrawals declined to $180 million.

BSP data showed that equity capital placements during the period came mainly from Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the United States and China.