|
By Maricel E. Burgonio Reporter
THE country enjoyed a higher
dollar surplus in the first four months this year on strong
remittances, export receipts and the proceeds from a government
borrowing and power plant sale, according to the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP).
BSP data showed that the
country’s balance of payments (BOP) surplus rose to $499 million
last month, causing the first four months’ dollar surplus to hit
$2.134 billion, higher than the $1.700 billion in the same period
last year.
“The strong performance in
January to April was on account of sustained foreign exchange
inflows from remittances by overseas Filipinos, merchandise exports
and BSP’s foreign exchange operations and investment income,”
BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said.
The BSP made a conservative
BOP-surplus forecast of $3.4 billion this year from $8.576 billion
last year.
Recent foreign exchange inflows
consisted mainly of the government’s deposit of the proceeds from
a $329.9-million Asian Development Bank loan for local government
financing and budget reform.
Last month, the country’s gross
international reserves rose slightly to $36.7 billion from the
previous month’s $36.6 billion. This was partly due to a slowdown
in foreign exchange inflows on account of risk aversion, which drove
investors away from emerging markets like the Philippines.
Foreigners remained net sellers
of local stocks and other peso-denominated assets, as higher
inflation last month spooked investors. Price increases accelerated
to a three-year high of 8.3 percent last month, pushing the
four-month average to 6.2 percent, or well above the BSP’s
full-year target of 3 percent to 5 percent.
In a statement, the BSP said net
portfolio investments registered an outflow of $49.89 million in
April, a reversal from the net inflows of $261.85 million last year.
“Principally accounting for
this development were investors’ continuing risk aversion and
concerns on the impact of elevated energy and commodity prices on
domestic interest rates and corporate earnings,” Tetangco said.
The bulk of the foreign portfolio
investments in April went to shares listed in the Philippine Stock
Exchange (PSE) at 62 percent or $547.6 million.
Placements in peso time deposits
accounted for 24 percent while investments in fixed rate treasury
bonds made up 14 percent.
Higher capital repatriations were
recorded at $935.8 million, consisting of divestments from PSE
listed shares at 38 percent, government securities at 13 percent and
withdrawals of peso bank deposits at 4 percent.
In the first four months, foreign
portfolio transactions reached a net outflow of $113.7 million this
year from a $1.1-billion inflow last year.
“This resulted largely from
changes in global economic conditions, including the slowdown in the
US economy arising from the subprime crisis [and] tightening of
global credit conditions,” Tetangco said.
By type of instrument,
investments in PSE-listed shares and government securities
registered net inflows of $722.4 million and $102.4 million,
respectively.
Peso bank deposits posted a net
outflow of $938.5 million.
Gross inflows reached nearly $4.0
billion during the first four months, 11 percent lower than the over
$4.4 billion total recorded for the same period last year.
Investments in PSE-listed shares
reached $2.4 billion, down from $3.6 billion in the same period last
year.
The bulk of the investments were
in telecommunications and property firms.
Investments in peso-denominated
government securities increased by 35 percent to $1.1 billion and
placements in bank deposits surged 424 percent to $545.8 million.
Providing the bulk or 65 percent of investments during the period
were the United Kingdom, Singapore and the US.
Gross capital outflows however
grew 22 percent year on year to over $4.1 billion due to withdrawals
of investments from listed shares at 40 percent of the total,
followed by government securities at 24 percent and peso bank
deposits at 36 percent.
|
