After pulling out of the Philippines in October, foreign investors came back in November, putting money into the country's stock market and government bonds, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
Foreign portfolio investments registered with the central bank reached $96.59 million in November, reversing the year-high net outflow of $529.68 million in October.
Last month, the country recorded $96.59 million in net foreign investment inflows, with $1.86 billion entering and $1.76 billion exiting, according to BSP data. This signals improvement from October's outflow-dominated record.
These foreign portfolio funds—commonly referred to as "hot money" due to their short-term, speculative nature—include tradable money market instruments.
Foreign investments in November climbed 25.8 percent from October’s $1.48 billion, with 71.4 percent going to peso-denominated government securities.
The remaining 28.6 percent was invested in Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed sectors, including banks, holding firms, property, transportation services, and the food, beverage, and tobacco industries.
The bulk of November’s hot money inflows (90 percent) came from the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Luxembourg, and Norway.
Meanwhile, gross outflows in November totaled $1.76 billion, down $244.73 million (12.2 percent) from $2.01 billion the previous month.
As in October, the United States remained the top destination for outflows in November, receiving $914.20 million, or more than half (51.8 percent) of total remittances.
Shrinking net inflows
On a yearly basis, hot money inflows last month increased by $286.55 million (18.2 percent) to $1.86 billion.
However, gross outflows nearly doubled, increasing by $861.72 million (95.4 percent) from $903.10 million in November of last year to $1.76 billion.
As a result, net inflows in November dropped significantly to $96.59 million, down $575.18 million (85.6 percent) from $671.77 million recorded in the same period last year.
For the January-to-November period, foreign investments registered with the BSP saw net inflows of $2.59 billion, a significant turnaround from the $43.66 million net outflow during the same period in 2023.
Foreign investors may choose not to register with the BSP unless they need to buy foreign currency from authorized banks to repatriate profits or capital.
The BSP expects net hot money inflows to total $4.2 billion by the end of 2024 and projects $2.9 billion in 2025.