BUSINESS
BSP: Foreign investments down in August
The highest volume of securities transactions was seen in banking, followed by property, holding firms, food and beverage, tobacco and transportation services.
The country's net inflow of foreign investments registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas decreased to $153 million in August from $962 million in July.
The BSP on Friday reported that this resulted from $1.4 billion gross inflows and $1.3 billion gross outflows of foreign investments with BSP through its agent banks.
The gross inflows declined by 8.6 percent or $136 million month-on-month. Majority of the foreign investments came from securities listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange which comprised 74.2 percent of the total and amounted to $1 billion.
The highest volume of securities transactions was seen in banking, followed by property, holding firms, food and beverage, tobacco, and transportation services.
Peso-denominated securities
Meanwhile, peso-denominated government securities comprised 25.8 percent and totaled $372 million.
Investments in August mostly came from Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, Luxembourg and Singapore which collectively represented 88.9 percent of all countries with Philippine-based investments.
Gross outflows, on the other hand, rose in August by 109.5 percent or $673 million from the July level.
Majority of the lost investments or 59.2 percent were redirected to the US which received $762 million.
From January to August, net inflows of foreign investments to the Philippines registered with BSP stood at $311 million, down from $589 million in the same period last year.