‘Hot money’ leaves in March

by Ian Nicolas Cigaral, (Philstar.com), Apr 17, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — More short-term portfolio investments exited than entered the Philippines in March, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Wednesday.

Registered foreign portfolio investments, also known as “hot money” for their volatility, yielded net outflows of $739 million in March after four consecutive months of net inflows.

Year-to-date, foreign portfolio investment transactions posted $363.40 million net inflows.

So-called hot money enters and exits the country with ease, unlike firmer commitments like foreign direct investment.

In March, gross inflows stood at $1.7 billion, up by 22.8% from $1.4 billion in February.

About 66.5% of investments registered during the month went to securities listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange — mainly holding firms, food, beverage and tobacco companies, property firms, banks and transportation services companies. The United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries last month.

However, gross outflows hit $2.5 billion, 130.8% higher than $1.1 billion chalked up in February. The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 76.8% of total remittances.

“By instrument, net inflows of $2 million was noted for Unit Investment Trust Funds while net outflows were recorded for all other investment instruments: securities listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE-listed securities: $379 million); Peso government securities (Peso GS: $361 million); and other portfolio instruments (less than $2 million),” the central bank said. —