Foreign investment pledges contracted by almost 55 percent in the April-to-June period, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA data showed total foreign investments approved by the country’s seven investment-promotion agencies (IPAs) amounted to only P18.2 billion in the second quarter, from P40.4 billion in the same period last year.
There was also a 38.4-percent contraction in approved investments in the first six months of the year to P41 billion in 2017, from P66.6 billion in 2016.
“Approved foreign investments represent investment commitments and pledges by foreigners regardless of the percentage of ownership of the ordinary shares, which may be realized in the near future while foreign direct investments [FDI] refer to actual foreign investments generated, with the foreign investors owning 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares,” the PSA said.
The data covered approved investments from the Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corporation, Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), as well as the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), BOI-Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.
The IPA that recorded the steepest decline in approved foreign investments was the SBMA at 98.4 percent.
The agency that approved the most foreign investment in the second quarter was the AFAB, and was the only one that posted an expansion in approvals. Its foreign-investment approvals jumped by 258.2 percent to P279.2 million in the second quarter, from P78 million in the same period last year.
Most of these investment pledges were made in manufacturing, which received the largest amount of committed foreign investments. Investments for manufacturing stood at P6.7 billion, or a 36.7-percent share.
The PSA said the top 3 prospective investing countries for the period were Japan, Singapore and the United States.
Pledges from Japan amounted to P4.8 billion, or 26.4 percent of the total FI during the quarter, while Singapore and the US committed P2.4 billion and P2 billion, or 13 percent and 11 percent of the total approved FI, respectively.