THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said registered foreign portfolio investments for April 2020 yielded net outflows of $660 million resulting from the $1.3 billion gross outflows and $627 million gross inflows for the month.
This is lower than the recorded net outflows of $961 million in March.
The $627 million registered investments for the month reflected a 34.3 percent decline from the $954 million figure in March 2020 and is also the lowest recorded monthly gross inflows since July 2010.
About 91.2 percent of investments registered were in PSE-listed securities while the remaining 8.8 percent went to investments in Peso government securities.
The United Kingdom, US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 85.5 percent.
Year-to-date hot money transactions yielded net outflows of $2.1 billion resulting from the $6.3 billion gross outflows and $4.2 billion gross inflows for the said period.
This is a reversal from the $37 million net inflows noted for the same period last year brought about by uncertainties due, among others, to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the global economy and financial system, and other key events earlier in the year such as the continuing geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran, ongoing trade negotiations between the US and China, and renegotiation of the contracts of the country’s water concessionaires.
