THE Philippines booked $1 million in net inflows of foreign portfolio investments in June, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
The BSP said foreign investments registered with the BSP through authorized agent banks yielded $889 million in gross inflows for the month narrowly surpassing the gross outflows of $888 million.
This was also the first time in four months that there was a net inflow of these investments, which are also called “hot money” because of the ease with which they can enter and exit an economy.
Majority of registered investments ($700 million or 78.7 percent) were in PSE-listed securities, while the remaining were in Peso government securities ($190 million or 21.3 percent) and in other instruments, the BSP said.
It added: “The top five investor countries for the month were the United Kingdom (UK); United States (US); Luxembourg; Singapore; and Switzerland with combined share to total at 84.2 percent.”
Despite this, hot money has yielded net outflows from January to June of $803 million which is a reversal of the $778 million net inflows noted for the same period last year.
The Philippines lags behind its neighbors in terms of attracting foreign investments. But the government is hoping that several amendments to the country’s investment laws will help attract more foreign capital into the country. (ABS-CBN News)
