Foreign portfolio investments, or hot money, yielded net inflows of $2.1 billion in 2024, a reversal from the $248.84-million net outflows seen in 2023.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said gross foreign investments registered through authorized agent banks (AABs) grew 39.2 percent to $17.9 billion in 2024 from $12.8 billion level in 2023.
The BSP said these investments were predominantly investments in peso government securities (54.2 percent), while the balance was invested in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities (45.8 percent) and other investments (less than 1.0 percent).
The UK, Singapore, US, Luxembourg and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries during the year, with combined share to total at 86.3 percent.
Gross outflows amounted to $15.82 billion in 2024, up by 20.5 percent from the previous year’s $13.13 billion.
On a per instrument level, transactions in PSE-listed shares resulted in net outflows of $897.53 million, smaller compared to the $1.02 billion net outflows last year, while those for Peso GS recorded net inflows of $3 billion, up by 284.2 percent compared to $781.08 million net inflows in 2023.
The BSP said that for the month of December 2024, transactions on foreign investments registered with the BSP, through AABs, recorded net outflows of $487.37 million, resulting from $1.54 billion gross outflows and gross inflows of $1.05 billion.
The recorded net outflows are a reversal from the $96.59 million net inflows posted in November 2024.
Investments in December mostly came from the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Singapore, Germany and Ireland with combined share to total at 76.3 percent.
The $1.5-billion gross outflows in December were lower by 12.6 percent compared to the gross outflows in November amounting to $1.7 billion.
The US remained the top destination of outflows, receiving $718.88 million (or 46.6 percent) of total outward remittances.