More ‘hot money’ left country in January

More foreign portfolio investments or “hot money” flowed out at the start of the year, with net outflow of $130 million in January reversing the net inflow a year ago mainly due to economic troubles overseas.

Bangko Sentral ng Pillipinas (BSP) data released on Thursday showed that the net outflow last January was lower than the net outflows of $171 million in December but a turnaround from $592 million in net inflows during the same month last year.

The net outflow recorded last month meant more foreign-led investments in bonds, deposits and stocks left than entered domestic markets.

The BSP attributed the net outflow in January to “lingering concerns on China’s economic slowdown and the plunging global oil prices.”

The country attracted $820 million in foreign portfolio investment inflow last month, down 33.5 percent from December’s $1.2 billion as well as “significantly” below the $2.2 billion recorded in the same month last year. “This may be attributed to global developments (economic slowdown in China, escalating tensions in the Middle East, geopolitical concerns in North Korea and plunging oil prices) that adversely influenced overall market sentiment,” the BSP explained.

Outflow also dropped to $950 million from $1.4 billion last December and $1.6 billion in January last year.

The BSP said 89.3 percent of registered portfolio investments in January were invested in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities (mainly those of banks; food, beverage and tobacco companies; holding firms; real estate companies, and utility firms), while 10 percent were in peso-denominated government securities.

“The United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Luxembourg and Belgium were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total of 78.9 percent. The United States continued to be the main destination of outflow, receiving 87.6 percent of total,” the BSP said.