Pinoy Investments Abroad

[jpdm]

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

[True Faith]

--Wow! is this true?

--With this money, Pinoys can easily buy Petron and Meralco....

--or build an integrated iron and steel company....

--or buy Chrysler?

[uls]

Rich pinoys definitely wouldnt put all their money in local banks and local stocks and bonds.

they would put their money in foreign banks and invest in foreign equities and debt paper.

Most rich asians put their money in Hong Kong and Singapore branches of US, UK, Swiss banks.

JP Morgan is the favorite bank among high net worth pinoys.

Surprised?

Rich pinoys have tons of money abroad.

why don't they invest it here?

for what?

hanap sakit ng ulo?

[True Faith]

I hope they will invest their money in high growth areas such as mining, processing and iron and steel....

[jpdm]

Rich pinoys definitely wouldnt put all their money in local banks and local stocks and bonds.

they would put their money in foreign banks and invest in foreign equities and debt paper.

Most rich asians put their money in Hong Kong and Singapore branches of US, UK, Swiss banks.

JP Morgan is the favorite bank among high net worth pinoys.

Surprised?

Rich pinoys have tons of money abroad.

why don't they invest it here?

Actually, Im not surprised. Its already expected.

And this is the big difference between the rich and the poor/middle class (especially OFWs) in the philippines.

--The rich go abroad to bring out foreign exchange from our country. And happily spend it overseas...

--On the other hand, poor/middle class (the OFWs) go abroad to bring in foreign exchange here in our country. In fact without the 14 billion US dollars that they bring here, our economy is screwed.

-With our damning trade deficits year after year, our BOP is always at the negative, in deficits---buti na lang may remittances ng OFW...kaya may surplus.

--Is it correct then ULS for a Pinoy to ignore the need of you own country for fresh capital?

--I mean the OFws are doing it...

--6 billion dollars is a big money why not invest in in blue chip companies in the country?

--

[DonT]

I really do think that the philippines is fortunate because of the OFW's. Just think of the US$14.4 Billion which was remmitted for 2007. Ask yourself saan napunta yun.

Just for argument sake...ginastos lahat yan ng mga families of the OFW's..12% of that would have VAT which would go to the government.

The question is...is the government taking great care that the collected taxes are put to good use. thats around US$1.73 Billion or around Php 80Billion.

[uls]

--Is it correct then ULS for a Pinoy to ignore the need of you own country for fresh capital?

How about talented and skilled pinoys who go abroad even if they are needed here in the country?

the rich arent the only ones who look after their own interests.

[jpdm]

Actually,
--Is it correct then ULS for a Pinoy to ignore the need of you own country for fresh capital?

How about talented and skilled pinoys who go abroad even if they are needed here in the country?

the rich arent the only ones who look after their own interests.

ULS we have an excess of human capital, no jobs here because the rich are putting their money abroad as what you have said.

Here. Im talking of hard cash which these rich people brought out of our country..

Please, I want to know you opinion about this..Is it right to for rich pinoys to bring out money from our cash (foreign exchange) starved country.





Is it correct for rich Pinoys to

[uls]

excess human capital?

well, we do have a lot of unskilled labor

how about doctors? what's with the shortage of doctors i keep hearing about?

doctors taking up nursing, going abroad...

---

correct or not? black or white yung tanong mo e

ganito nalang...

do we wish those rich pinoys re-invest their money here rather than keep/invest their money abroad?

yes definitely.

by keeping/investing their money abroad, are they doing anything illegal?

nope.

the same way it is not illegal for foreign funds to enter and leave our stock market.

[jpdm]

excess human capital?

well, we do have a lot of unskilled labor

Yes, indeed we have excess human capital.

Not only unskilled but even skilled workers.

400,000 nurses with license.

Thousands of engineers ( usually industrial, civil and ECE)

thousands of computer science and IT grads...

thousands of education grad..

thousands of commerce, marketing, business management grad...

thousands of hrm and tourism grads...

thousands of liberal arts grads....

how about doctors? what's with the shortage of doctors i keep hearing about?doctors taking up nursing, going abroad...

Special case. Indeed, we have shortage. Thats why its wrong for them to go abroad. But this is a free society. we can only encourage them to stay.

now why is it wrong? They go abroad for money and convenience.Most of them pa nga scholar ng bayan from UP )


---

correct or not? black or white yung tanong mo e

ganito nalang...

Correct. That there is a surplus of manpower in the Philippines...

And despite the shrotage of doctors, they still go into nursing and go aborad to earn more money. Period.

do we wish those rich pinoys re-invest their money here rather than keep/invest their money abroad?

yes definitely.

Now, I definitely agree with you. They should. Its patriotic. Its practical. Lots of potential investments here.

Look at these Koreans. last I heard, they will push through their billion dollar Samsung (Subic or Clark) and Hanjin (Philvidec) investments....

The Chinese are bringing their money here.Specially in mining. Japanese ganun din.

Bakit hindi Pinoy?

6 billion dollars can put up a shipyard bigger than Hanjin (1.3 billion dollars) or the Texas Instrument plant in Clark (1 billion) or an integrated steel mill of Mittal Steel and the Global/Ispat Group in Iligan (1.3 billion dollars respectively)...

Or a 300 million US dollar National boradband for the government..

or the entire stake of Ashmore in Petron Corp. for 600 million US dollars...

by keeping/investing their money abroad, are they doing anything illegal?

nope.

the same way it is not illegal for foreign funds to enter and leave our stock market.

Im not saying its illegal but is it right to bring out the money vis-a-vis our national economy?

Marcos did not allow that, I think.

How come its ok now.

Foreign funds are different. These are excess money from rich people/investors from rich countries awashed with cash--mucho dinero. The Philippines on the other hand, has no cash despite the EVAT and RVAT. DEP ED cant even put up toilets in our public schools... Or philippine corp has no money for expansion....(although they can go public through an IPO--there is another thread about it)

How will you treat these money abroad ULS--inflow or outflow?

Now, what will be the effect of this 6 billion if flowed back to our economy? to our GIR, BOP and GNI?