Facts and figures

LAST week, a good friend of mine, Ricky Francisco, also a staunch critic of this administration posted on his Facebook wall a litany of “facts” that were posted on a blogsite. He tagged me knowing that I may have information that can corroborate or otherwise the “facts” stated by Ding C. Velasco.

On the Inflation Rate. 1.4% in May 2016, it's 3.7% now. Up by 2.3%. Bad.

According to my research, inflation rate in May 2016 was 1.6%. Earlier that year, in February 2016, it even reached 0.9%. In May of 2017, inflation rate is at 3.1%. The latest data is for September, and inflation was recorded at 3.4%; year-on-year increase of 1.8%. (Source: Philippine Statistics Authority)

On Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). In Q2 2016 it stood at $1.44 Billion, it's $141 Million ending Q2 2017. Down 91%. Very bad.

When I checked on the information from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, direct investments recorded net inflows of US$2.1 billion in Q2 2017, lower than the US$2.4 billion net inflows recorded in the same quarter a year ago.

Furthermore, the Philippine Statistics Authority noted that total foreign investments (FI) approved in the second quarter of 2017 amounted to PhP 18.2 billion from PhP 40.4 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The media release of the BSP dated October 10, 2017 disclosed that foreign direct investments (FDI) posted US$307 million net inflows in July 2017, lower than the US$493 million net inflows recorded in the same month last year. FDI net inflows reached US$3.9 billion in the first seven months of 2017, 16.5 percent lower than the US$4.7 billion net inflows last year.

On the Peso to Dollar. P45.00/dollar in May 2016, it is now at P52.00/dollar. Peso purchas-