Foreign investments up by 4.2% in April

REGISTERED foreign investments for the month of April 2018 amounted to US$1.4 billion, reflecting a 4.2 percent increase from $1.3 billion a year ago.

About 82.2 percent of investments registered during the month were in PSE-listed securities (pertaining mainly to banks, holding firms, property companies, food, beverage and tobacco firms, and retail companies), while the balance went to Peso government securities.

The United Kingdom, the United States (US), Hong Kong, Singapore, and Luxembourg were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 76.6 percent.

Meanwhile, outflows for the month ($1.1 billion) were lower by 18 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively, compared to those recorded in March 2018 ($1.34 billion) and a year ago ($1.27 billion). The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 74.5 percent of total remittances.

On the overall, transactions for the month yielded net inflows of $279 million, reflecting an improvement from the $51 million recorded for the same period last year.

Registration of inward foreign investments with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is optional under the liberalized rules on foreign exchange transactions.

The issuance of a BSP registration document entitles the investor or his representative to buy 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 his investment but the foreign exchange will have to be sourced outside the banking system. BSP