MANILA, Sept 13: Foreign investment in Philippines stocks, bonds and other financial instruments suffered a net outflow in August due to the global turbulence caused by the US sub-prime lending crisis, the central bank said on Thursday.

There was a net outflow of $246.4m for the month, the only monthly net outflow so far recorded this year, and a sharp reversal of the $1.1bn net inflow in July, a central bank statement said.

“Concerns over the extent and impact on the global credit market of the US sub-prime mortgage problem led foreign investors to stay on the sidelines,” it said in a statement. Foreign portfolio investments in the eight months to August totalled $3.3 billion, or 3.3 times the figure for the comparable period last year.

“The nervousness in the market sparked by the US mortgage crisis led to some outflow during August but overall, the country’s economic fundamentals appeared to have broadly kept investors’ interest in the Philippines for the first eight months of 2007,” the central bank said.—AFP