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FOREIGN
direct investments (FDIs), the kind the government
encourages because it stays for the long haul, flowed in
on net basis in March, totaling $208 million.
Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said
in a statement the net inflows in March were sharply
down from a year earlier when these totaled $1.388
billion.
“Surpluses were maintained across all FDI components in
the first quarter despite the drop in investor optimism
due to rising concerns on global uncertainties,” he
reported.
While
the net inflow during the month was higher year-on-year,
the cumulative first-quarter level was lower than that
posted in the same period last year.
This,
Tetangco quickly added, reflected “the general slowdown
in the economies of major investor countries,
particularly the United States.”
In
contrast, portfolio funds or so-called “hot” money for
the same period flowed outward on net basis totaling
$763.82 million.
Hot
money gets spooked very easily and is usually pulled at
the merest sign of trouble or of better returns
elsewhere.
Tetangco
has played down its outflow for the period, saying the
country got so much more from overseas Filipinos in the
same period.
He also
said the high base from which FDIs flowed inward last
year partly explained the lower net foreign direct
investments.
In the
same period last year, FDIs reached $1.388 billion due
to a significant infusion of capital to a local beverage
company, according to Tetangco.
Equity
placements for the period amounted to $193 million in
March versus only $75 million last year.
Reinvested earnings, or profits promptly plowed back
into those ventures, totaled $100 million versus only
$25 million in March last year.
The
other capital account, representing intercompany
borrowing or lending between foreign principals and
their affiliates or subsidiaries in the country, totaled
$258 million versus $108 million last year. |
