Manila: Foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows rose to a five-month high of USD820 million in July this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said. BSP data released on Thursday showed that the FDI net inflows during the month went up by 5.5 percent from the USD778 million net inflows recorded in July 2023. It was also the highest recorded since the USD1.3 billion in February this year. FDIs include investment by a non-resident direct investor in a resident enterprise, whose equity capital in the latter is at least 10 percent, and investment made by a non-resident subsidiary or associate in its resident direct investor. The BSP said an FDI can be in the form of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and borrowings. "The improvement in FDI was driven by higher net inflows across all components," the BSP said. In particular, nonresidents' net investments in debt instruments went up by 2.7 percent to USD610 million from USD594 million. Nonresidents' reinvestment of earnings and their net inv estments in equity capital (other than reinvestment of earnings) also increased by 12.8 percent to USD135 million from USD120 million and 16.8 percent to USD76 million from USD65 million, respectively. Top sources of FDIs during the month include Japan, the United States, and Singapore. The BSP said these were channeled mainly to manufacturing and real estate. For January to July this year, FDI net inflows reached USD5.3 billion, higher by 7.5 percent than the USD4.9 billion in the same period last year. Top country sources include the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States, and were channeled to manufacturing and real estate. Source: Philippines News Agency