Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the Philippines rose 46.6 percent on year to 837 million U.S. dollars in the first four months of the year, the central bank said Tuesday.

Net inflows of equity capital increased over five times more to 944 million U.S. dollars from only 174 million U.S. dollars netted in the same period in 2011. Most of the equity capital came from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan and Bermuda.

Most of these investments went to the manufacturing, real estate, wholesale and retail, finance, and mining sectors.

Reinvested earnings amounted to 42 million U.S. dollars, just a third of the 127 million U.S. dollars posted in the previous year.

The other capital account, consisting largely of intercompany borrowing/lending between foreign direct investors and their subsidiaries/affiliates in the Philippines, reversed to a net outflow of 149 million U.S. dollars from a net inflow of 270 million U.S. dollars in the same period in 2011 due to intercompany loan repayments and settlement of trade credits extended to local companies by their foreign affiliates.

In April alone, FDI posted a net outflow of 13 million U.S. dollars as concerns over Europe's credit problems spook investors.

Xinhua