FDI pledges up 32%–NSCB

MANILA, Philippines—Total foreign direct investments (FDIs) committed in the third quarter of 2011 by the country’s four major investment promotion agencies grew 32 percent year on year, data released Tuesday by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed.

Combined commitments of foreign and Filipino nationals for the quarter surged faster, growing more than three times those pledged in the same period in 2010. The data on foreign investments seem to echo the trends reported in the World Bank’s East Asia Pacific Economic Update, which said foreign direct investments would be moderate as investors have become more “cautious,” although portfolio investment inflows would remain “strong.”

In the NSCB report on Tuesday, it said FDIs approved for the third quarter of 2011 amounted to P25 billion, 32 percent higher than the P19 billion committed in the same period in 2010. Top prospective investing countries include Japan, Korea and the US.

The figures were collated from approved investments at the Board of Investments, Clark Development Corp., Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, the NSCB said.

The total approved FDI for the first nine months, amounting to P87.3 billion, increased by 9.9 percent from 2010’s P79.4 billion, the NSCB said.

Japan topped the list with investment pledges of P9.7 billion, most of which would be in manufacturing of motorcycles and siding board. Korea and the US accounted for 18 percent, or P4.5 billion, and 8.2 percent, or P2 billion, respectively, the NSCB said.

Manufacturing remained as top recipient of FDI commitments as it stood to receive P9.6 billion. Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning came in second at P5.1 billion, followed by real-estate activities at P4.8 billion.

In contrast, approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals more than tripled to P192 billion from the P55.8 billion posted in the November 2010 report of the NSCB.

Majority, or 87 percent, of the investments committed in the third quarter of 2011 were from ventures of Filipino investors “who have continually dominated investments approved during the first three quarters of 2011,” NSCB said. Most of the investments committed by Filipinos are intended to finance activities in electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply, particularly coal-fired power plants.

Foreign and Filipino ventures approved by the four major IPAs in the third quarter of 2011 are expected to create 40,660 jobs, increasing by 51.4 percent from last year’s projected employment of 26,857 jobs. Out of these anticipated jobs, 25,643 new jobs, or 63.1 percent, would come from projects with foreign interest.