Net foreign portfolio investments rise 120% to $1.2B – BSP

Net foreign portfolio investments grew 120 percent year-on-year to $1.2 billion as of Jan. 25, 2013, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed over the weekend.

For nearly the same period last year (Jan. 1 to 27, 2012), net foreign portfolio investments in the country amounted to $541.59 million.

The actual total amount for January is expected to be higher as the present numbers do not include the last four days of the month (Jan. 20 to 31).

Foreign portfolio investments are investments made by foreign investors in a country’s stock market, government securities and money market.

Inflows increased 119 percent to $2.369 billion, but total outflows also grew by 118 percent to $1.178 billion.

The January figure was also a 460-percent improvement from the previous month, with net foreign portfolio investments in December 2012 reaching only $212.65 million. Inflows grew 36 percent from $1.739 billion while outflows dropped by 23 percent from $1.527 billion.

Total registered investments amounted to $18.5 billion in 2012, 12 percent higher from the year before, as the Philippines’ macroeconomic fundamentals caused investor confidence to grow. Investors from the UK, the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Luxembourg were the main source of foreign investment funds. — BM, GMA News