Foreign direct investment (FDI) poured into the Philippines surged 116 percent to 680 million USD in September from 314 million USD recorded in the same month last year, according to the Philippine central bank (BPS).

The BPS stated that the increase reflects investors’ continued confidence in the country’s strong economic growth and sound macroeconomic fundamentals.

Most FDI sources came from the US, Singapore, Taiwan (China), Japan and Germany, focusing on manufacturing, real estate, wholesale and retail trade, finance and insurance, transportation and warehouse.

The significant rise in FDI during the month was attributed the sustained growth in investments in debt instruments and higher lending of parent companies abroad to their local affiliates to fund existing operations and business expansion plans in the country, the BSP said.

The bank’s statistics showed that FDI inflows to the Southeast Asian country in the first nine months of this year reached 4.88 billion USD, 11 percent higher than the goal of 4.44 billion USD set for the whole year.-VNA