PHL posted $531-M net ‘hot money’ outflow in February

FOREIGN portfolio investments posted its widest outflow in almost two years in February, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

The data showed “hot money” net outflows reached $531 million as of February 2023. This was the highest since the $541 million worth net outflows in March 2021.

BSP data showed net outflows were driven by $1.2 billion gross outflows and $680 million billion gross inflows for the month.

“Majority of investments [or 79.6 percent] registered were in PSE-listed securities [investments mainly in banks, holding firms, property, food, beverage and tobacco and electricity, energy, power & water], while the remaining went to investments in Peso government securities [20.4 percent] and in other instruments [less than 1 percent],” BSP said.

These investments refer to the following inward foreign investments registered with Authorized Agent Banks (AABs).

These are PSE-listed securities; Pesodenominated government securities; and Peso time deposits with banks with a minimum tenor of 90 days.

The list also includes other Peso debt instruments; unit investment trust funds; and other instruments such as Exchange Traded Funds and Philippine Depositary Receipts.

The $1.2 billion gross outflows for the month were higher by 70.2 percent or by $499 million compared to gross outflows recorded for January 2023 at $712 million.