MANILA -- Registered investments for the month of October 2018 amounted to USD953 million, reflecting a 28.2 percent increase from the USD743 million figure in September. In contrast, this represented a 31.2 percent decline from the USD1.4 billion level recorded during the same month a year ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement on Friday.
About 68.8 percent of investments registered during the month were in PSE-listed securities (pertaining mainly to holding firms, food, beverage and tobacco firms, banks, property companies, and telecommunication companies). The balance went mostly to Peso government securities (GS) (31.2 percent) and Peso time deposits (TDs) (less than USD1 million). Transactions in Peso GS and Peso TDs yielded net inflows of USD233 million and less than USD1 million, respectively; while net outflows were noted for transactions in PSE-listed securities (USD301 million) and other Peso debt instruments (less than USD1 million).
The United Kingdom, United States (US), Singapore, Norway, and Luxembourg were the top five (5) investor-countries for the month, with combined shares of 82.4 percent.
Outflows for the month (USD1.0 billion) were lower compared to those recorded for September 2018 (USD1.2 billion or by 13.8 percent) and October 2017 (USD1.9 billion or by 47.6 percent). The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 77.7 percent of total remittances.
Overall transactions for the month resulted in net outflows of USD68 million, an improvement from the USD440 million and USD563 million net outflows recorded in September 2018 and October 2017, respectively. The deficit may be attributed to investors' reaction to the country's September inflation data coupled with the continuing trade tensions between the US and China, the BSP added.
Year-to-date transactions (1 Jan to 2 November 2018) yielded net inflows of USD94 million compared to the USD812 million net outflows for the same period last year (2 January to 3 November 2017), which is attributed to a large investment in a holding company registered this year. (BSP PR)
