(File photo)
MANILA – Foreign portfolio investments or hot money registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through authorized banks recorded net outflows of USD76 million in January this year.
Data released by the BSP late Thursday showed that this resulted from the USD1.3-billion gross outflows and the gross inflows of USD1.2 billion for the month.
The net outflow during the month was a reversal from USD291-million net inflow recorded in January 2023.
Foreign portfolio investments are also called hot money due to the speed with which it comes in and out of the economy.
The USD1.2 billion registered investments in January went up by 23.1 percent from the USD1 billion seen a year ago.
The BSP said 62.7 percent of these registered investments were in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities, most of which were investments made in banks, holding firms, property, transportation services and food, beverage and tobacco.
About 37.3 percent were in Peso Government Securities (GS), while the remaining were in other instruments.
Investments mostly came from the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg and Hong Kong.
The central bank said the USD1.31-billion gross outflows, meanwhile, rose by 84 percent from the USD291 million in January last year.
The US remains to be the top destination of outflows, receiving USD600 million of total outward remittances.
"For the coming months, net foreign portfolio investments data could improve after better-than-expected local GDP (gross domestic product) and inflation data since November 2023," Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a comment.
Ricafort said hot money data could also improve after the recovery of the US and global financial markets. (PNA)
