Hot money outflows narrow to $70.26 million in March

Registered foreign investments with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) or “hot money” continued to post net outflows in March, albeit lower than the previous month, data released on Thursday showed.

Data released by the BSP recorded $70.26-million in net outflows in March, lower than the $531.27-million net outflows in February, and the $305.08-million net outflows the same month last year.

Gross outflows for the month jumped to $1.326 billion from $1.211 billion in February, while gross inflows increased to $1.255 billion from $679.96 million.

The majority or 64.6% of the investments for the month were channeled into securities listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange, mainly in banks, property, holding firms, food, beverage, and tobacco and transportation services. The remaining inflows went to peso government securities, and other instruments.

The top investing countries for March were the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, and Norway which accounted for a cumulative 86.4%.

The latest figures brought the year-to-date investments to $309.42 million in net outflows, as gross outflows stood at $3.249 billion while net inflows stood at $2.939 billion.

The registration of inward foreign investments delegated to all authorized agent banks (AABs) by the BSP is optional and required only if it involves foreign exchange purchases for repatriation of capital and remittances of earnings.

Without the registration, the BSP said foreign investors can still repatriate capital and remit earnings on their investment, but the foreign exchange will have to be sourced outside the banking system. — BM, GMA Integrated News