Net hot money outflows reach $324.12 M in September

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine net foreign portfolio investment outflows summed up to $324.12 million in September, a reversal of the $682.73-million net inflow recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said today.

Gross inflows in September went down 17 percent to $2.15 billion from $2.6 billion last year, while gross outflows climbed 29 percent to $2.47 billion from $1.92 billion, according to the BSP.

Foreign portfolio investments are also called hot money for the ease in which they are put in and taken out of markets.

The BSP said "registered investments were lower... due to the effects of the tapering of the quantitative easing program of the United States."

The BSP said bulk or 81.5 percent of the hot money inflows in September went into Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities, mainly telecommunication firms, holding firms, banks, property companies, and food, beverage and tobacco companies.

The remaining 18.5 percent of the portfolio investments were put into peso-denominated government securities.

The United States, Britain, Singapore, Luxembourg, and Ireland were the top five investor countries during September, and the United States also continued to be the main destination of outflows, the BSP said.