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Foreign Direct Investments

A. Background

The Foreign Investments Information System (FIIS) was started in 1991 as a project1/ to develop an integrated approach for generating and reporting foreign direct investments (FDI) in the Philippines.

Statistics on FDI are being reported/generated by a number of agencies, all of which carry out functions relating to monitoring, management and/or promoting of foreign investments. This has resulted in inconsistent data because of the differences in definitions and reporting periods adopted by different concerned agencies. To address this problem, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) created an ad hoc Inter-Agency Group to develop and implement the FIIS.

In July 1996, the First Report of the FIIS Study was presented and published. The FIIS Study initially made use of available annual administrative data for 1991 and 1992 on investments to operationalize concepts and methodologies for developing foreign direct investments statistics in the Philippine context. Thus, the Report contained the results of the 1991-1992 estimates of stock of FDI, and the concepts, methodology, data system and institutional support needed to implement the FIIS.

Based on the recommendations of the FIIS Study, the Inter-Agency Committee on Foreign Direct Investments Statistics (IAC-FDIS) was formally created in September 1996 by the NSCB through NSCB Memorandum Order No. 1-96 to rationalize and integrate foreign investments data in all aspects including collection, processing and dissemination. The IAC-FDIS is now composed of:

  • NSCB - Chairman
  • Board of Investments (BOI) - Co-Chairman
  • Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • Bureau of Trade Regulation & Consumer Protection (BTRCP)
  • Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)
  • Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)
  • Clark Development Corporation (CDC)
  • National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
  • National Statistics Office (NSO).

All the member agencies of the IAC-FDIS will jointly implement the institutionalization of the FIIS. The IAC-FDIS is currently implementing the second component of the FIIS which is the Consolidated Quarterly Reporting System (CQRS). The other two components are the Register and the Annual Reporting System which were implemented during the initial study.

These three components will later be integrated to form the FIIS. The CQRS will operationalize the integration of the monthly/quarterly data on foreign investment reported by the various concerned agencies. This will put in place the integrated and uniform approach of reporting quarterly FDI statistics. Upon approval by the IAC-FDIS, the report shall be released to the President sixty days after the reference quarter.

B. Concepts / Coverage

1. One of the objectives of the FIIS is to develop a system that is comparable internationally. As such, the Philippine FIIS is adopting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concept of Foreign Direct Investments as described in the Fifth Edition of the Balance of Payments (BOP) Manual, in all of its components, i.e., the Register, the Annual FDI Reporting System and the Consolidated Quarterly Reporting System.

Foreign Direct Investments as defined in the BOP Manual, are investments made to acquire a lasting interest by a resident entity in one economy in an enterprise resident in another economy. The purpose of the investor is to have a significant influence, an effective voice in the management of the enterprise.

To operationalize this definition, the FIIS followed the benchmark definition of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which considers as direct investment enterprise an incorporated or unincorporated enterprise in which a direct investor who is resident in another economy owns ten percent or more of the ordinary shares or voting power (for incorporated enterprise) or the equivalent (for an unincorporated enterprise). The ten percent cut-off in equity is used to distinguish between direct and portfolio investments, which is not covered by the FIIS at present.

2. Since the Philippines is more of a recipient of foreign investments, the FIIS covers only inward foreign direct investments. Specifically, this includes foreign investments in Philippine corporations, partnerships and single proprietorships.

3. Specifically, the CQRS will report on actual inward remittances of foreign investments as well as approved investments. Actual foreign direct investments remittances refer to investments paid by a foreign entity to a resident enterprise in another country. In the case of the Philippines, this covers: capital or equity contributions/remittances from abroad, reinvested earnings, technical fees, royalties converted to equity, bonds and other debts converted to equity and imports converted to equity.

Approved foreign investments, on the other hand, represent the amount of proposed contribution or share of foreigners to various projects in the country as approved and registered by the BOI, the PEZA, the SBMA and the CDC. Approved foreign investments do not represent actual investments generated but rather as foreign investment commitments which may come in the near future.

C. Methodology and Sources of Data

The NSCB as the agency that coordinates all statistical matters in government has been tasked by the IAC-FDIS with the preparation of the CQRS. The CQRS covers actual and approved foreign direct investments.

1. The investments promotions agencies generate data on foreign investments monthly. These agencies show "project cost" in reflecting approved or committed investments. For purposes of the CQRS, the term approved investments is adopted. Not all of approved investments will materialize during the period. There is a gestation period between approval and actual investments.

To arrive at total approved investments, the reported project costs of BOI, PEZA, SBMA and CDC are summed up for the quarter.

2. Total actual inward remittances of foreign direct investments is obtained from the Balance of Payments (BOP) compiled monthly by the BSP. The BOP provides the data framework on all external transactions of the national economy, in which FDI is one item. Conceptually, the FDI flows in the BOP is consistent with the IMF definition. Hence, this is taken as the global total of foreign investments inflow on a quarterly basis.

FDI by country of investor is estimated by applying the combined ownership structure of non-FIA SEC, FIA-SEC, BSP-FED and FIA-BTRCP registered FDI enterprises for the period to total actual foreign investments as recorded in the BOP data.

Total FDI by industry is estimated using the same procedure used in applying the combined industry structure of non-FIA SEC, FIA-SEC, BSP-FED and FIA-BTRCP registered FDI enterprises for the period to total registered foreign investments recorded in the BOP data.

3. The SEC and BTRCP also report monthly foreign capital investments. SEC comes up with data on investments and number of non-FIA registered FDI corporations (foreign ownership is less than 40 percent) and FIA-registered corporations (40 percent and over foreign ownership), by country of investor and by industry. In the SEC, foreign investments refer to the foreign equity (paid-up) capital of the non-FIA and FIA registered corporations. It should be noted, however, that registration with SEC and BTRCP does not translate into actual flows as captured by the BOP of the BSP.

Hence, what are not reported at present are additional investments of existing FDI enterprises. SEC covers only that portion of existing FDI enterprises that apply for additional authorized capitalization.

4. The foreign investments of the Foreign Exchange Department (FED) - BSP registrations cover all FDI firms intending to transact in foreign exchange in compliance with BSP rules in FX position limits. Hence, this involves only cash investments. On the other hand, BOP records actual FDI remittances including reinvested earnings, bond conversions, non-cash investments and others. In addition, there is a difference in recording period between BOP and FED FDI reports.

5. Total approved investments includes all Filipinos and foreign investments which has been granted approval by the promotion agencies, i.e., BOI, PEZA, CDC and SBMA.