MANILA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investments (FDI) posted net inflows of 609 million U.S. dollars in January 2019 in the Philippines, down 38.2 percent from the 986 million U.S. dollars recorded in January 2018, the Philippine central bank said on Wednesday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the decline in FDI net inflows reflected a 65.3-percent drop in equity capital placements to 184 million U.S. dollars during the month from 531 million U.S. dollars for the same period a year ago.

Equity capital placements during the month emanated mainly from Mauritius, South Korea, the United States, Singapore, and the Netherlands, BSP data showed.

The BSP said these were channeled largely to the financial and insurance; administrative and support services; real estate; electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply; and information and communication industries.