THE DROP of year-to-date net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows had eased further on an annual increment in October last year, but that month’s amount was just a third of the record high logged in September, according to data released yesterday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Latest available central bank data also showed Philippine net FDI inflows continued to lag behind those of its comparable Southeast Asian peers.

Net FDI inflows edged up 1.4% to $451 million in October last year from the $445 million recorded in 2014’s comparable month.

“Favorable investor sentiment on the back of the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals resulted in net inflows across all FDI components,” the central bank said in a statement.

Net investments by foreign firms in their Philippine units’ or affiliates’ debt instruments surged 71.1% to $287 million from $168 million in the same comparable months.

However, net inflows of other FDI components fell: net equity capital inflows were halved (-52.5%) to $101 million from $213 million, while reinvested earnings dipped 1.9% to $62 million from $63 million.

Bulk of equity capital investments that month — largely from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States — went to manufacturing; real estate; financial and insurance; administrative and support service; as well as electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply businesses.

October’s tally brought year-to-date net inflows to $4.987 billion, 4.9% less than the $5.247 billion recorded in 2014’s comparable 10 months.

The drop as of October was still better than the 5.5% year-on-year fall recorded in the nine months to September, a month that recorded a record-high $1.519 billion in net inflows.

The 10 months to October saw an 11.6% annual drop to $2.81 billion in lending by foreign firms to their local subsidiaries or affiliates and a 10.8% fall to $637 million in reinvested earnings that were mitigated by a 13.9% increase in net equity capital placements to $1.54 billion.

The central bank still expects net FDI inflows to have reached $6 billion in 2015 even after revising other macroeconomic assumptions during the Monetary Board’s Dec. 17 meeting.

In 2014, net FDI inflows to the Philippines reached an all-time high of $6.2 billion, 65.9% higher than the $3.737 billion recorded in 2013.

The October inflows failed to enable the Philippines to catch up with its comparable neighbors in attracting FDI.

Latest available central bank data showed that for the first three quarters alone, Singapore had already raked in $48.648 billion, Indonesia received $16.906 billion, Malaysia recorded $7.817 billion, while Thailand got $6.311 billion.

Reuters had also reported that Vietnam’s net inflows could have reached $11.8 billion from January to October. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez