Philippine "Hot Money" in Jan-July reaches $265 mln

MANILA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Philippine foreign portfolio investments posted a net inflow of 265 million U.S. dollars in the first seven months of this year, a reversal of the net outflow of 577 million U.S. dollars in the same period last year, the Philippine central bank reported Thursday.

Gross investment inflows were recorded at 3.6 billion U.S. dollars, with the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and Luxembourg as the top investor countries.

In the month of July alone, transactions in foreign portfolio investments registered with the central bank resulted in a net inflow of 66 million U.S. dollars. This is a reversal from the net outflow of 77 million U.S. dollars recorded in the previous month.

The central bank attributed this to increased investor confidence owing to positive reports on corporate earnings, reduction in the key policy rates, and an upgrade in the Philippine credit rating. Reports that the global economic recession is bottoming out has also boosted both consumer and investor confidence.

Registered foreign portfolio investments in July alone increased 15 percent on year to 518 million U.S. dollars. About 81percent of these investments were in listed shares while the others went to peso-denominated government securities. Total outflows, which were largely in the form of withdrawals from interim peso deposits, fell 14 percent to 452 million U.S. dollars.