Registered foreign investments in March at $2.5B

REGISTERED foreign investments for the month of March 2018 amounted to US$2.5 billion, more than double the $1.0 billion figure in February and 79.7 percent higher than the $1.4 billion a year ago.

About 50.6 percent of investments registered during the month were in other Peso debt instruments (OPDIs), while 40.9 percent were in PSElisted securities (pertaining mainly to holding firms, property companies, banks, food, beverage and tobacco firms, and utilities companies); the 8.5 percent balance went to Peso government securities (GS). The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States (US), Norway, and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 85.2 percent.

Outflows for the month ($1.3 billion) were lower by 15.1 percent and 27.1 percent compared to those recorded in February 2018 ($1.6 billion) and a year ago ($1.8 billion). The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 85.9 percent of total remittances.

On the overall, transactions for the month yielded net inflows of $1.1 billion, a reversal from the net outflows recorded last month ($545 million) and in March 2017 ($460 million). Net inflows were noted for OPDIs ($1.2 billion) and Peso GS ($122 million), while transactions for PSE-listed securities resulted in net outflows of $240 million. BSP