MANILA – Net foreign direct investments (FDI) into the Philippines rose by 21.3 percent in May 2025, driven largely by inflows from the United States and investments in manufacturing, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

FDI net inflows climbed to US\$586 million from US\$483 million in May 2024, buoyed by an 88.3 percent surge in nonresidents’ net investments in debt instruments, which grew from US\$227 million to US\$427 million. Reinvestment of earnings remained steady at US\$97 million.

The gains were tempered by a 61.4 percent drop in nonresidents’ net investments in equity capital, excluding reinvested earnings, which slid from US\$161 million to US\$62 million.

Equity capital placements in May 2025 came mostly from the United States, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. The bulk of these went to manufacturing, real estate, and electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply industries.

Despite the May rebound, BSP data showed FDI net inflows for January–May 2025 fell by 26.9 percent to US\$3.0 billion from US\$4.0 billion in the same period last year.