FX.co ★ FDI into the Philippines Drop 27.8% in March

In March 2025, the Philippines experienced a significant decline in net foreign direct investment (FDI), plummeting by 27.8% on a year-on-year basis to a three-month low of USD 0.5 billion. This downturn was primarily due to reduced net inflows across all major components of FDI, which included a 31.6% drop in debt instruments, a 27.4% decrease in equity capital, and a 1.2% fall in the reinvestment of earnings. During this period, the majority of equity capital investment came from Singapore (25%), Japan (24%), the United States (20%), South Korea (9%), and Malaysia (5%). These investments were predominantly channeled into the real estate sector (37%), manufacturing (33%), financial and insurance activities (9%), and administrative and support services (7%). Looking at the first quarter of 2025 as a whole, net FDI inflows amounted to USD 1.8 billion, which represents a steep 41.1% decline from the USD 3 billion recorded during the equivalent timeframe in the previous year.