MANILA, May 19 : Total foreign investments (FI) approved in the first quarter of 2022 reached over US$171 million, 54.1 per cent lower compared with the amount in the same period last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.

The PSA said the foreign investments for the first quarter were mainly driven by investments from Japan which accounted for 39.7 per cent of the total approved FI, followed by South Korea and Singapore.

The PSA said manufacturing bested all other industries as it stands to receive nearly US$98 million or 57.4 percent of the total FI pledges.

Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply was second, followed by administrative and support service activities.

The agency said the projects would generate over 20,000 jobs.

 - Xinhua