The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said foreign portfolio investors removed more than $373 million in “hot money” from the Philippines in April.

Net withdrawals of foreign portfolio investments decreased to $373.95 million in the fourth month of the year, down from $540 million in March.

The latest amount was the result of $651.16 million in inflows and $1.02 billion in outflows, which was also lower than the $660.38 million net outflows a year ago.

Registered investments fell by 21 percent in April from $824 million in March, according to a statement released by the central bank on Friday. Inflows grew by 3.8 percent to $627 million year over year.

In April, outflows totaled $1.4 billion, a decrease of 24.9 percent from March. Outflows were also down 20.4 percent compared to April 2020, when they were $1.3 billion. The United States received 72.8 percent of all outflows.

“Developments during the month included investor reaction to easing inflation, contraction of the country’s gross domestic product in 2020, extension of local quarantine measures, progress of the government’s vaccination program and the continued rise of infections in the country,” the BSP said.

Despite the ongoing impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on the global economy and financial system, foreign portfolio investment transactions have resulted in net outflows of $857.44 million in the year to date, down from $2.1 billion in the same period in 2020, the Bangko Sentral said.

“This has been accompanied by international and domestic developments such as the new US administration, vaccine rollout and the reimposition of additional quarantine measures amid the surge in virus infection,” it added.

Last year, the country saw $4.24 billion in net hot money outflows, a significant increase above the $1.90 billion it recorded in 2019. This year, the central bank anticipates $5.7 billion in hot money inflows.