PH bucks decline in region; FDI up

Foreign direct investments continued to flow into the Philippines in the first half, bucking the general decline in the region, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

Unctad’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor report showed that the Philippines chalked up a 10.9-percent increase in FDI inflows to $2.2 billion in the first half of the year, the second biggest increase in Southeast Asia next to Malaysia, which recorded a 14.4-percent increase in investments to $5.9 billion. Next to the Philippines are Indonesia with FDI up 6.8 percent to $8.3 billion and Vietnam (up 3 percent to $3.9 billion).

Thailand saw close to a 54-percent decline in FDI inflows to $1.9 billion in the first semester of 2013 while Singapore suffered a 7.9-percent drop to $25.9 billion.

“In developing Asia, the recovery of FDI inflows was weak, which was partly due to a slowdown in economic growth and macroeconomic uncertainty, as well as slow demand in consumer markets in many investor countries,” the report stated.

The report also said that the rapid growth of FDI inflows to the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) over the past three years—from $48 billion in 2009 to $111 billion in 2012—had temporarily stalled.

Globally, FDI reached an estimated $745 billion in the first six months of the year, up from $718 billion a year ago, boosted largely by inflows to developing and transition economies, particularly those outside Asia.