Foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows sustained its growth momentum in December 2023, increasing by 29.9 percent year-on-year to reach US$826 million from the US$636 million net inflows in December 2022. FDI increased mainly on the back of the 86.2 percent growth in nonresidents’ net investments in debt instruments to US$527 million from US$283 million in the comparable month in 2022. Similarly, reinvestment of earnings improved slightly by 4.1 percent to US$91 million from US$87 million. Meanwhile, nonresidents’ net investments in equity capital (other than reinvestment of earnings) declined by 21.7 percent to US$208 million in December 2023 from US$266 million a year ago.
Bulk of the equity capital placements during the reference month came from Japan with investments directed mostly to the manufacturing industry.
The full-year 2023 FDI net inflows reached US$8.9 billion, or a contraction of 6.6 percent, from the US$9.5 billion net inflows recorded in 2022 (Figure 2). Notwithstanding the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals, concerns over subdued global economic growth and geopolitical risks continued to weigh on investors’ investment plans.


