Although recovering from the 11-year-low inflows in December last year, foreign-led brick-and-mortar investments at the start of 2025 declined by 20 percent to $731 million, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The latest BSP data released on Thursday, April 10, showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows fell in January from the $914 million recorded in the same month last year.

Net FDIs represent the total foreign investments that flowed into the Philippines, minus those that exited.

According to the BSP, the double-digit drop in net FDI inflows in January was mainly due to the nearly 38-percent drop in foreign residents’ net investments in debt instruments to $519 million, from $833 million a year ago.

But the shift of foreign investors to equity capital, other than reinvestment of earnings, partly offset this drop, turning January 2024’s net outflows of $11 million into net inflows of $88 million in January 2025.

Reinvestment of earnings also increased by 36 percent to $125 million, from the $92 million recorded in January last year.

Most equity capital came from Japan, the United States (US), Singapore, and Malaysia, with funds largely directed toward the manufacturing, finance, insurance, and real estate sectors.

January’s net inflows are equivalent to over seven percent of the $10 billion that the central bank forecasts the Philippines will pull in this year.

To recall, net FDIs stood at $8.93 billion in 2024, slightly higher than the $8.925 billion recorded in 2023.

In December last year, FDI dropped to merely $110 million.