Net FDIs fall 77.3% in Sept, dragged by US credit woes

Net foreign direct investments to the country in September, fell 77.3 percent from last year to only $44 million, as investors played safe due to the United States credit market crunch, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed. Behind the inflows in September, the BSP said, was net equity capital placements of $95 million mostly infused into the real estate and manufacturing sectors. The net inflow in the reinvested earnings account, amounting to US$20 million also contributed to this development, the BSP said. "These combined inflows more than offset the net outflow of $71 million in other capital investments," the BSP said in its report. However, according to the same data, net FDIs to the country from January-September, rose 22.3 percent to $1.9 billion. The BSP said net FDI inflows from January–September 2007 consisted largely of net equity capital placements by foreign investors which amounted to $1.8 billion. Gross equity capital placements, on the other hand, reached $2 billion. These went into the manufacturing (electronics, health and chemical products, food, automotive sensors, decorative crafts), services (international courier, information technology development, multimedia service provider), construction, mining, real estate, financial intermediation, and agricultural industries. According to the BSP, the bulk of these inflows came from the US, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, and the UK. - GMANews.TV