Foreign direct investments (FDI) in the Philippines climbed 21.3 percent year-on-year to $586 million in May 2025, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.
The BSP said in a statement the increase was due to non-residents’ net investments in debt instruments, which grew 88.3 percent to $427 million in May.
These investments in debt instruments consist of intercompany borrowing and lending between foreign direct investors and their Philippine subsidiaries, the bank said.
Net investments in debt instruments consist mainly of intercompany borrowing and lending between foreign direct investors and their subsidiaries or affiliates in the Philippines.
Reinvestment of earnings remained stable with a 1.4-percent increase to $97 million in May 2025.
The gains were partly offset by a 61.4-percent decline to $62 million in non-residents’ net investments in equity capital.
Equity capital placements in May came mostly from the United States, Japan, Singapore and South Korea and were mostly in manufacturing, real estate, and electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply industries, the BSP said.
Data showed that in the first five months of 2025, total FDI net inflows declined 26.9 percent to $3.0 billion from $4.0 billion a year ago.
The BSP said its FDI statistics are different from the investment data of other government sources. It said its FDI data cover actual investment inflows, while the approved foreign investments data published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) are sourced from investment promotion agencies (IPAs) which represent investment commitments, which may not necessarily be fully realized in a given period.
