South Africa recorded foreign direct investment outflows of 3.2-billion rand ($179.87-million) in the third quarter, compared to inflows of 16.6-billion in the second quarter, central bank data showed on Friday.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its Quarterly Bulletin that the outflows were due to domestic subsidiaries of multinational companies paying back their loans to the parent companies.

For the first time in two years, portfolio investments recorded inflows of 45.6-billion rand in July-September, from outflows of 20.1-billion rand in the second quarter.

Nthabiseng Molemoeng, head of balance of payments at the SARB, said the inflows were mainly due to an increase in foreign purchases of publicly traded government bonds following eight consecutive quarters of equity outflows.

"I think it was just a general decline in investor sentiment towards emerging markets," she said. "Now with this quarter the inflow is mainly from debt securities."