Foreign investments registered with BSP yield net inflows in October 2022

Transactions on foreign investments registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through authorized agent banks (AABs), in October 2022 recorded net inflows of US$83 million, a reversal from the US$367 million net outflows recorded in September 2022.

This resulted from the US$645 million gross inflows and US$561 million gross outflows for the month.

The US$645 million registered investments in October 2022 reflected a decrease of 27.7 percent (or by US$247 million) compared to the US$892 million registered in September 2022.

Majority of investments (or 73.0 percent) registered were in PSE-listed securities [investments mainly in: (a) property; (b) banks; (c) holding firms; (d) food, beverage and tobacco; and (e) telecommunications], while the remaining went to investments in Peso government securities (27.0 percent) and other instruments (less than 1.0 percent).

Investments for the month mostly came from the United Kingdom; United States (US); Singapore; Luxembourg; and Hong Kong with combined share to total at 84.4 percent.

The US$561 million gross outflows for the month were lower by 55.4 percent (or by US$698 million) than the US$1.3 billion recorded in September 2022.  The US received 67.7 percent of total outward remittances.

Year-on-year, registered investments in October 2022 decreased by 32.1 percent (or by US$305 million) from the US$950 million recorded in October 2021, while gross outflows were also lower by 52.1 percent (or by US$610 million) than the outflows recorded for the same period last year (US$1.2 billion). The US$83 million net inflows in October 2022 were a reversal from the US$221 million net outflows recorded in October 2021.

Year-to-date transactions (1 January to 31 October 2022) for foreign investments registered with the BSP, through AABs yielded net inflows of US$305 million, a turnaround from the US$680 million net outflows noted for the same period last year (1 January to 31 October 2021).

Registration of inward foreign investments delegated to AABs by the BSP is optional under the rules on foreign exchange (FX) transactions.

It is required only if the investor or its representative will purchase FX from AABs and/or their subsidiary/affiliate foreign exchange corporations for repatriation of capital and remittance of earnings that accrue on the registered investment.

Without such registration, the foreign investor can still repatriate capital and remit earnings on its investment but the FX will have to be sourced outside the banking system.