MANILA - More foreign portfolio investments flowed out of the country in February compared to money that came in, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Thursday.
The BSP said there was a net outflow of $531 million in transactions on foreign investments registered with the BSP through Authorized Agent Banks or AABs. This was after $1.2 billion worth of these types of investments flowed out of the Philippines last month compared to $680 million that flowed in.
“The$680 million registered investments for the month are lower by 32.3 percent (or by$324 million) compared to the $1 billion recorded in January 2023,” the BSP said.
Foreign portfolio investments are also known as “hot money” for the ease with which they enter and exit a country. They refer to investments in local stocks, peso-denominated government securities, 90-day peso time deposits with banks and others.
The BSP said 79.6 percent of investments were in PSE-listed securities while 20.4 percent went to investments in Peso government securities and in other instruments.