Foreign direct investments grow 127% in Feb. — Bangko Sentral

With investor confidence high on the Philippines, job-creating foreign direct investments more than doubled in February from a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday. In a statement, the central bank said the country saw net inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) rose by 127.08 percent to $436 million in February from $192 million in the same month last year. "The sustained inflows of FDI reflect investors' increasing optimism over the country's growth potential, notwithstanding the uncertainties on the strength of the global economy," said the Bangko Sentral. But Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. research head Ildemarc Bautista noted the February figures do not really augur more FDI inflows the rest of the year. "It's too early to call it (the increase) an emerging trend. I see a lot of interest from the investors I've talk to, but we have to see if put in the numbers," he told GMA News Online. "We can say that we've arrived if FDI is at par with our top Southeast Asian neighbors. We're still playing catch up," Bautista said. The FDI upsurge in February reflected a 74.2-percent increase in fresh equity investments to $230 million and a 72-percent drop in withdrawals to $15 million. Foreign companies also upped the amount of money they lent their domestic units by more than four-folds to $161 million from $30 million. The February net FDI brought the first two months' total to $1.012 billion, or 18.7 percent less than the $1.245 billion a year earlier. FDI flows last January were halved from January 2013. The Philippine government is banking on the recent investment grade ratings given by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's Ratings Service to attract much needed FDIs that create jobs and strengthen industries. The Aquino administration wants more investment inflows order to alleviate poverty that overshadows the country's stellar growth. — VS, GMA News