Pinoy Investments Abroad

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Year after year, the Philippine government and other Philippine companies
have been looking for money abroad--in the form of foreign loans, aids and foreign direct investments. The money is intended to pay government debt and development projects. On the other, firms used the money to put up anew business or for expansion purposes.

We need foreign money and capital simply because we dont have it...

And yet, lo and behold, Pinoys have a whopping 6 billion dollars investments abroad!

Is this good or bad for our economy?

And, are these the only investments of pinoys abroad?

Manila Standard
October 29, 2008

[SIZE=3]Filipinos’ investments down 8.9% to $6.5b[/SIZE] By Eileen A. Mencias




FILIPINOS’ foreign portfolio investments dropped by 8.9 percent, to $6.5 billion in 2007 from $7.2 billion in 2006, despite the easing of foreign exchange rules that should have encouraged more investments abroad.
It was the first time foreign portfolio investments dropped since regulators started the Coordinated Portfolio Investments Survey in 2001, the Bangko Sentral said.



In the study released yesterday, the central bank said $6.33 billion, or 97.2 percent of total, were invested in debt securities and only $185.8 million, or 2.8 percent, were invested in equities. The central bank said Filipino investors also had the bulk of their investments in long-term debt securities amounting to $4.79 billion or 73.5 percent.



Securities issued in the United States remained the most popular with Filipinos investing $2.37 billion in the US last year, or 36.3 percent of the total. In 2006, Filipinos invested $3.09 billion in US securities, or 43.2 percent of the total.



Filipino investments in the United Kingdom increased by 47 percent to $870 million from $588 million in 2006. UK investments accounted for only 8.2 percent of the total in 2006 but expanded to 13.3 percent last year.
Singapore was the third most popular investment among residents. Filipinos invested $500.8 million in Singapore in 2007, a 19-percent drop from the $621.7 million reported in 2006.



The central bank said Filipinos also started investing for the first time in countries, like Austria, Bahrain, British Virgin Island, Colombia, Egypt, Ireland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru,Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.



The central bank also noted an increase in investments on securities in Bermuda and Cayman Islands.



The central bank said 30.9 percent of the foreign portfolio investments of Filipinos went into securities issued by non-resident banks. Securities issued by foreign governments were the second most popular investment and accounted for 29.7 percent of total. Securities issued by non-bank financial corporations accounted for 17.4 percent and those issued by non-financial corporations accounted for 18.7 percent.



US dollar-denominated securities accounted for 95.7 percent of the investments and the rest are in euros or Japanese yen.
The central bank eased its foreign currency regulatory framework last year, increasing the amount of dollars that Filipinos can invest abroad to $12 million from $6 million without central bank approval