'Hot money' inflows surge to over $1 B in April

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Foreign portfolio investments, more known as "hot money," to the Philippines more than tripled in April to $1.13 billion from $333.43 million a year ago, the local central bank reported on today.

The central bank attributed the surge in inflows to "positive" reaction to good corporate earnings and upgraded growth forecasts of the Philippines. The monetary officials decision to slash special deposit account rates to 2 percent also pushed investors to go to the equity and bond markets for higher returns.

Gross inflows reached $3.51 billion, while gross outflows amounted to $2.38 billion. Top sources of hot money were the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China 's Hong Kong and Luxembourg.

For the first four months of the year, portfolio investments totaled $2.22 billion, up 178 percent from $797.88 million a year ago. The central bank has forecast a net inflow of $3 billion for the year.