Foreign portfolio investments, also known as"hot money" due to the ease with which it enters and exits the economy, have noted net outflows for the third straight month this year, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas .
June recorded a net outflow of $35.72 million, as investors put in $1.41 billion into the Philippine Stock Exchange and peso securities, but pulled out $1.44 billion. "The net outflows for June is an improvement from the net outflows noted in May 2019 amid: domestic inflation data for May 2019 which is within the government's target of 2 to 4 percent; resumed trade talks between US and China during the recently held G20 meeting in Japan ; and the anticipated possible interest rate cuts of the US Federal Reserve," the BSP said in a statement.Inflation in May was at 3.2 percent, lower than the 4.6 percent recorded in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, the US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met during the G20 summit, where they agreed that the US will hold back from imposing more tariffs on Chinese goods. The United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, US and Hong Kong were the top investor countries of the month.