Philippines

Net foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Philippines grew 94.4% y-o-y in March to US$208mn, according to the central bank, despite the current uncertain global economic climate. However, this could only boost net FDI for the first quarter of 2008 to a total of US$551mn, marking a 60.3% decline compared to the equivalent period of 2007, although the sharp drop was blamed on a high base effect after a significant one-off investment in Q107. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects FDI to reach US$4.2bn this year, up from US$2.7bn in 2007 with mining, shipbuilding and construction anticipated to be the main beneficiaries.

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