Foreign investments also known as “hot money” saw a net outflow of $531.27 million in February, reversing the inflows recorded in January and the same period last year, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Authorized agent banks (AABs) registered gross outflows of $1.211 billion in February, while gross inflows totaled $679.96 million, the BSP data showed.
During the same period in 2021, gross inflows amounted to $944.51 million, while gross outflows were lower at $670.47 million.
The hot money outflows in February were mainly driven by investments in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities, such as banks, holding firms, and property, with a combined share of 79.6 percent of registered foreign investments through AABs.
Meanwhile, 20.4 percent of investments were in peso government securities, while less than one percent were in other instruments.
The top five investor countries in February were the United Kingdom, the United States, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which accounted for 82.5% of total investments registered via AABs, according to the BSP.
Hot money investments are inward foreign investments placed in listed securities, government bonds, time deposits, and other debt instruments, among others.
Last year, the BSP registered $886.7 million net hot money inflows, which fell short of the projected net foreign portfolio investments of $3.5 billion for 2022.
This year, the BSP estimates hot money inflows to reach between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion in 2024.
