Net portfolio inflows quadrupled to $3B - BSP

Just-released data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Thursday show that net inflows of foreign portfolio investments as of last August 19 quadrupled to $3.06 billion from only $756.58 million a year back. These investments consisted of capital invested in the Philippine Stock Exchange and in peso-denominated government securities. BSP Deputy Governor and current officer-in-charge Diwa Guinigundo said in a text message to news media that the new figures could be a sign of “some recovery when the market has digested the meaning of the Standard and Poor’s action." S & P scaled down the Triple A rating of the United States’ long term debt to AA+ in early July. Gross inflows climbed 114 percent to $11.577 billion from $5.399 billion while outflows, which consisted mostly of withdrawals of interim pesos deposits, jumped 83.3 percent to $8.512 billion from $4.642 billion, BSP data showed. Singapore, the United Kingdom, US, Luxemburg, and Hong Kong were the sources of most portfolio inflows to the Philippines. — ELR/VS, GMA News