MANILA - The Philippines booked $1.3 billion in net inflows of foreign direct investments (FDI) in July, up 52 percent from the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Monday.
"The said improvement brought the cumulative FDI net inflows to $5.6 billion, a growth of 43.1 percent from the $3.9 billion net inflows in the first seven months of 2020," the BSP said.
FDI net inflows rose in July due mainly to the 61.1 percent growth year-on-year in investments in debt instruments to $1.1 billion from US$667 million, the central bank said.
"Similarly, reinvestment of earnings rose by 87.1 percent to $155 million from US$83 million."
Foreign investments fell sharply last year as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted businesses across the globe.
But even before the pandemic, FDI net inflows had been declining from the record high $10 billion hit in 2017.
In 2020, FDI inflows cratered, contracting nearly 25 percent year-on-year to $6.54 billion.
Economic managers have been pushing for reforms to the country's business laws to attract more capital.
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