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Philippines' July net FDI inflow at 6-month high

* July net inflow $108 mln vs June's $73 mln

* Jan-July net inflow at $1 bln, up 80.5 pct on yr

MANILA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bankreleased on Wednesday preliminary data on net foreign directinvestments (FDIs) in July:July Jun May Apr Mar Feb JanNet FDI(in $ mln) 108 73 7 -13 14 58 778KEY POINTS:

- Net FDI inflows of $108 million in July compare with netoutflows of $261 million in the same month last year.

- Net inflows in January to July totalled $1 billion, nearlytwice the $568 million recorded last year, driven by higherequity capital investments.

- The increase in FDI inflows reflected foreign investor'sgrowing optimism on the country's macroeconomic fundamentals,the central bank said in a statement.

- The bulk of the investments in July originated from theUnited States, Thailand and Japan, benefiting the manufacturing,real estate, mining and financial intermediation sectors.

- Net foreign direct investment, portfolio inflows andremittances from Filipinos working and living overseas help keepthe country's balance of payments (BOP) in surplus.

- The Philippines posted a BOP surplus of $582 million inAugust, bringing the January-August surplus to 5.08 billion.

- The central bank has said it is reviewing its forecast of$2.6 billion for this year's balance of payments surplus, withthe possible upward revision likely to be announced this month.

LINKS:

For details click on central bank website,

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Jijo Jacob)

((karen.lema@thomsonreuters.com)(+632 841-8938)(ReutersMessaging: karen.lema.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: PHILIPPINES ECONOMY/FDI