China becomes second biggest foreign investor of Philippines in 2019

MANILA -- China has become the second largest foreign investor in the Philippines in 2019 after Singapore, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.

PSA data showed that China's investment in the Philippines in 2019 increased by 74.9 percent, reaching 88.7 billion pesos (roughly $1.75 billion).

According to PSA, Singapore is the biggest foreign investor in the Philippines in 2019 with 176.4 billion pesos (roughly $3.48 billion) worth of investments and South Korea is the third-largest with 41.5 billion (roughly $820.2 million) pesos investment.

PSA data further showed that the total approved foreign investments to the Philippines in 2019 reached 390.1 billion pesos (roughly $7.70 billion), or 112.8 percent higher compared to 2018.

China's investment to the Philippines significantly increased in the fourth quarter in 2019.

"Foreign investments for the fourth quarter of 2019 were mainly driven by investments from China which accounted for 77.0 percent, followed by South Korea and the United States," the PSA said, adding China committed 86.3 billion pesos (roughly $1.7 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2019.