The country saw a net inflow of portfolio investments worth $689 million in February, after a net outflow of $76 million in the previous month, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed.

This was the result of the $1.5 billion inflow surpassing the $859 million outflow in February.

Inflow rose by 25 percent or $313 million month-on-month, BSP data showed.

Foreign investors mostly placed their funds in peso-denominated government securities, with a total value of $951 million and a 61.4 percent share of all the foreign investments registered with the BSP through its authorized banks.

These were followed by securities in companies listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), with transactions amounting to $598 million and a 38.6 percent share.

The top recipients of investment were banks, transportation providers, holding firms, property developers, and food, beverage and tobacco manufacturers.

Foreign investments mostly came from the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Luxembourg and Hong Kong.

Outflow stemmed

On the other hand, outflows decreased by 34.5 percent or $452 million.

The United States received the biggest outflows amounting to $485 million or 56.4 percent of the total.

From January to February, net inflows of foreign investments reached $613 million, a reversal of the $258 million net outflows recorded in the same period last year.

First Metro Investment Corp. said the demand for government bonds will be tempered by the supply of the debt instruments.

“To be sure, we don’t see any more extraordinary borrowings by the national government which can now maintain the current offers of P180 billion per month for the rest of 2024,” FMIC said in its latest market call.