The Marcos administration will double its efforts to enhance foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country, Malacañang said Wednesday, after the country fell short of the USD9-billion target for 2024.

Speaking to reporters, Palace Press Officer and Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said the government would try to determine why FDI net inflows were almost unchanged from USD8.925 billion recorded in 2023 to USD8.93 billion in 2024.

“Aalamin po natin iyan at kung meron pong pagkukulang ay gagawan po agad ng paraan ng ating mga business experts at ng ating mga head ng agencies para po matugunan kung ano man ang magiging epekto nito (We will find out and if there is any deficiency, our business experts and our heads of agencies will immediately take steps to address whatever the impact will be),” she said.

Castro said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is also holding several meetings to make sure that foreign investments in the country would further improve.

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.

It can be in the form of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and borrowings.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed that top sources of FDIs last year include Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore.

The FDIs were channeled mainly to manufacturing, real estate and information and communication, according to the BSP report.

For December 2024 alone, FDI net inflows amounted to USD110 million.

The BSP said Singapore, Japan, United States, and Korea were the top sources of FDIs during the month. (PNA)