REGISTERED foreign portfolio investments for 2018 amounted to $16.03 billion, slightly lower by $38 million or 0.2 percent than the $16.07 billion in 2017.
On a monthly basis, the highest gross inflows were recorded in March with $2.5 billion while the lowest was noted in September with $743 million.
This may be attributed to the large investment in a holding company registered this year accompanied by investors' optimism over the passage of the first phase of the government's tax reform program.
Outflows for the year amounting to $14.8 billion reflected an 8.8 percent decline compared to $16.3 billion in 2017.
About 96.8 percent of total outflows represented capital repatriation with the remaining 3.2 percent pertaining to earnings.
Transactions for 2018 yielded net inflows of $1.2 billion compared to the $195 million net outflows for the same period last year, which is attributed to a large investment in a holding company registered in 2018.
Portfolio investments registered during the year were mainly in PSE-listed securities (71.4 percent), Peso government securities (GS - 20.2 percent), and other Peso debt instruments (OPDIs - 8.3 percent).
Transactions for the following instruments generated net inflows: OPDIs - $1.3 billion; Peso GS - $1.2 billion; and Peso time deposits - less than $1 million; while net outflows were noted for PSE-listed securities ($1.3 billion).
The United Kingdom, the United States (US), Singapore, Netherlands, and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries during the year while the US continued to be the main destination of outflows.
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. (PR)