TRANSACTIONS on foreign investments registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through authorized agent banks (AABs) recorded net inflows of US$93 million in December 2022, lower than the $489 million net inflows posted in November 2022.
This resulted from the $1.09 billion gross inflows and $999 million gross outflows for the month.
The $1.09 billion registered investments in December 2022 reflected an increase of 3.6 percent (or by $38 million) compared to the $1.05 billion registered in November 2022.
Majority of investments (74 percent) registered were in Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed securities (investments mainly in holding firms, telecommunications, banks, property and food, beverage and tobacco, while the remaining went to investments in peso government securities (GS - 26 percent) and other instruments (less than one percent).
Investments for the month mostly came from the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore, United States (US); Luxembourg and Netherlands with combined share to total at 80.5 percent.
The $999 million gross outflows for the month were larger by 76.6 percent (or by $433 million) than the $566 million recorded in November 2022. The US received 72 percent of total outward remittances.
Year-on-year, registered investments in December 2022 decreased by 18 percent (or by $240 million) from the $1.3 billion recorded in December 2021, while gross outflows were also lower by 25.2 percent (or by $337 million) than the outflows recorded for the same period last year ($1.3 billion). The $93 million net inflows in December 2022 is a reversal of the $4 million net outflows recorded in December 2021.
2022 performance
For the whole year 2022, foreign investments registered with the BSP, through AABs, totaled $12.3 billion, reflecting a 9.4 percent decrease (or by $1.3 billion) compared to the $13.6 billion level in 2021.
These investments were predominantly investment in PSE-listed securities (78.2 percent) mostly in electricity, energy, power and water; property; holding firms; banks; and food, beverage and tobacco, while the balance was invested in peso government securities (21.6 percent) and other investments (less than one percent).
The UK, Singapore, US, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries during the year, with combined share to total at 81.8 percent.
Recorded outflows of $11.5 billion were lower than the previous year’s $14.2 billion (by 19.3 percent or $2.7 billion). Majority (or 95 percent) of these outflows represented capital repatriation while the remaining five percent pertained to remittance of earnings. The US continued to be the main destination of outflows with 72.9 percent of total. (PR)