BSP-registered foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) in February yielded net inflows of $274 million resulting from the $945 million gross inflows and $670 million gross outflows for the month. This is larger compared to the net inflows of $15 million recorded in January.

The $945 million registered investments for February reflected an increase of 29.1 percent (or by $213 million) compared to the $731 million recorded in January.

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 investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 75.7 percent.

The $670 million gross outflows for the month were lower by 6.5 percent (or by $46 million) than the $717 million recorded in January. The US received 76.5 percent of total outflows.

Year-on-year, registered investments in February declined by 29.4 percent (or by $393 million) from the $1.3 billion recorded in February 2021.

Similarly, gross outflows were lower by 51.4 percent (or by $708 million) than the outflows recorded a year ago ($1.4 billion).

It may be noted that the $274 million net inflows in February is a reversal from the US$40 million net outflows recorded for the same period a year ago.

Year-to-date transactions for BSP-registered FPIs from January 1 to February 28 yielded net inflows of $289 million, larger than the $57 million net inflows noted for the same period last year (January 1 to February 28 2021).

Registration of inward foreign investments with the BSP is optional under the rules on foreign exchange transactions. It is required only if the investor or its representative will purchase foreign exchange from authorized agent banks or their subsidiary/affiliate foreign exchange corporations for repatriation of capital and remittance of earnings that accrue on the registered investment.

Without such registration, the foreign investor can still repatriate capital and remit earnings on its investment but the foreign exchange will have to be sourced outside the banking system. BSP