Portfolio investment in February, also called “hot” or speculative money, flowed inward and accelerated in February totaling $274 million.
This was significantly more than net portfolio inflows of only $15 million the month before and indicative of the opportunities that are available to foreign fund managers looking to diversify their holdings in the Philippines.
Gross portfolio inflows in February totaled $945 million while gross outflows aggregated $670 million.
“The $945 million registered investments for February 2022 reflected an increase of 29.1 percent (or by $213 million) compared to the $731 million recorded in January 2022.
Under Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regulations, only those portfolio investments registered with the BSP are allowed to access the banks’ foreign currency exchange facilities. The unregistered portfolio investor has to fend for itself and find forex facilities where they can.
“Majority of investments (or 79.3 percent) registered were in PSE-listed securities (investments mainly in banks; property; holding firms; food, beverage and tobacco; and transportation services) while the remaining 20.7 percent went to investments in Peso government securities.
“The United Kingdom, United States, Luxembourg, Singapore and Hong Kong were the top five (5) investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 75.7 percent.
