Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-registered foreign portfolio investments (FPIs)[i] in February 2022 yielded net inflows of US$274 million resulting from the US$945 million gross inflows and US$670 million gross outflows for the month.
This is larger compared to the net inflows of US$15 million recorded in January 2022.
The US$945 million registered investments for February 2022 reflected an increase of 29.1 percent (or by US$213 million) compared to the US$731 million recorded in January 2022.
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 (US), Luxembourg, Singapore and Hong Kong were the top five (5) investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 75.7 percent.
The US$670 million gross outflows for the month were lower by 6.5 percent (or by US$46 million) than the US$717 million recorded in January 2022. The US received 76.5 percent of total outflows.
Year-on-year, registered investments in February 2022 declined by 29.4 percent (or by US$393 million) from the US$1.3 billion recorded in February 2021.
Similarly, gross outflows were lower by 51.4 percent (or by US$708 million) than the outflows recorded a year ago (US$1.4 billion). It may be noted that the US$274 million net inflows in February 2022 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 1 January to 28 February 2022 yielded net inflows of US$289 million, larger than the US$57 million net inflows noted for the same period last year (1 January to 28 February 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 and/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.
[i] Refer to inward foreign investments in PSE-listed securities (PSE); Peso-denominated government securities (GS); Peso time deposits with banks with minimum tenor of 90 days; other Peso debt instruments; unit investment trust funds; and other portfolio investments such as Exchange Traded Funds and Philippine Depositary Receipts
