MANILA – Foreign portfolio investments or hot money registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through authorized banks, recorded net inflows of USD377 million in the first quarter of the year.
Data released by the BSP on Wednesday showed that the net inflows during the month resulted from USD4.1 billion in gross inflows and USD3.8 billion in gross outflows.
The net inflow during the month was also a turnaround from the USD328 million net outflows recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
BSP data showed that the registered investments in the first quarter of 2024 were up 42 percent from last year's USD2.9 billion.
Gross outflows meanwhile, rose 16 percent from the USD3.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
Foreign portfolio investments are also called hot money due to the speed with which they come in and out of the economy.
For March alone, the BSP said hot money recorded net outflows of USD236 million resulting from the USD1.6 billion gross outflows and USD1.4 billion gross inflows.
Of the USD1.4 billion registered investments in March, 56.7 percent or USD798 million were in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities.
Most of these were investments made in banks, holding firms, property, transportation services, and food, beverage, and tobacco, while the remaining 43.3 percent were in peso government securities.
"Investments for the month mostly came from the United Kingdom, Singapore, United States, Switzerland, and Luxembourg with combined share to total at 83.6 percent," the BSP said. (PNA)
