Total foreign direct investments (FDI) approved in the first quarter of the year by the four major investment promotion agencies (IPAs) amounted to P22 billion, or 52.8-percent lower than the amount approved in the same period of 2010, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
Except for the Board of Investments, the other IPAs, namely Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) suffered setbacks in FDI applications. SBMA and CDC registered the highest declines of 93.7 and 92 percent, respectively.
The United States led all other countries with investment pledges of P6.7 billion, accounting for 30.6 percent of total approved FDI during the quarter.
This was followed by Japan and Korea with P4.7 billion or 21.5 percent, and P3.8 billion or 17.5 percent, respectively.
Despite the decrease in FDI, the combined approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals reached P161.9 billion in the first quarter of 2011, up 76.5 percent from last year’s P91.8 billion.
Filipino nationals more than made up for the decrease in FDIs by committing P139.9 billion in investments for the first quarter of 2011, more than three times the P45.1 billion committed a year ago.
To view the whole article by Riza T. Olchondra published on May 28, 2011 by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, click here.
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