Philippines' foreign investments yield net outflows in Feb

Manila, March 31 (IANS) The Philippine central bank said the country's foreign investments yielded net outflows of $531 million resulting from the $1.2 billion in gross outflows and $680 million gross inflows for the month.

"This is a turnaround compared to the net inflows recorded in January 2023 at $292 million," the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said late Thursday night.

It added that the registered investments for February of $680 million are lower by 32.3 per cent, or $324 million, than the $1 billion recorded in January this year.

Investments for the month mostly came from the UK, the US, Luxembourg, Hong Kong and Singapore, with a combined share of 82.5 per cent.

The BSP said the gross outflows for February of $1.2 billion were higher by 70.2 per cent, or $499 million, than the $712 million gross outflows recorded for January.

The US received 67.3 per cent of total outward remittances.

Year on year, the BSP said registered investments in February decreased by 28.0 per cent, or $265 million, from the $945 million recorded in February 2022, while gross outflows were larger by 80.7 per cent, or $541 million, than the $670 million outflows recorded in February 2022.

"The $531 million net outflows in February 2023 are a reversal compared to the $274 million net outflows recorded for the same period a year ago," the BSP added.

From January 1 to February 28 transactions, foreign investments registered with the BSP yielded net outflows of $239 million dollars, a turnaround from the $289 million net inflows recorded in the same period last year.