The Philippine Media’s spin button is trying to drum up the FDI card on the eve of the Philippine 2013 mid-term elections. The line is that foreign direct investments to the Philippines doubled from $196M in Feb 2012 to $256M in Feb 2013.
What’s not being said is that – Feb 2013 being double that of Feb 2011 is just a recovery from the drop in investments from $471M in March 2010 to $192M in Feb 2011.
For short – the $456M recorded in Feb 2013 has yet to beat the $471M recorded in March 2011.
China attracted $29B FDI in Q1 2013, Vietnam had $6B, Indonesia had $9.5B
The “doubling in FDI” (catchup actually) looks rather lame once you look at the regional picture. So despite the Philippines sovereign debt ratings upgrades notwithstanding – how come the Philippines attracts measly FDI. Just look at the annual target of the Philippine government – $2B for 2013. Vietnam’s $6B first quarter FDI performance has already exceeded the Philippines by 300%!
News about Philippines FDI is like a student bringing a report card and exclaiming an improvement in grades from 30 to 60- it goes without saying that the passing rate is 75.
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