PH FDI Falls 41% to $1.8B in Q1 2025

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Philippines posted net inflows of US$498 million in March 2025, down 27.8 percent from the US$689 million recorded in the same month of 2024, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The decline was attributed to lower net inflows across all major FDI components.

Net investments in debt instruments by nonresidents fell by 31.6 percent year-on-year to US$329 million from US$481 million.

Equity capital placements, excluding reinvested earnings, decreased by 27.4 percent to US$102 million from US$141 million.

Reinvestment of earnings slightly declined by 1.2 percent to US$66 million from US$67 million.

According to BSP, equity capital placements in March 2025 were sourced primarily from Singapore, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Malaysia.

These were invested largely in the real estate; manufacturing; financial and insurance; and administrative and support services industries.

For the first quarter of 2025, total FDI net inflows reached US$1.8 billion, a 41.1 percent decline from the US$3.0 billion recorded in the same period last year.