PH peso further weakens to

54.7 against US dollar

By: Zacarian Sarao - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 07:51 PM June 23, 2022
Philippine peso bills | INQUIRER.net stock photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines plunged further on Thursday

closing at 54.7 against the greenback, according to the Bank Association
of the Philippines’ (BAP) foreign exchange summary.
This puts the local currency at its weakest since November 11, 2005, when
the Philippine peso closed at 54.71 versus the US dollar.
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Despite this, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) during its Monetary
Policy Stance press briefing on Thursday remained firm that the year-to-
date Philippine peso average, which is currently at P51.98, is still in line
with the Development and Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC)
assumption of P51-P53:$1 for 2022.

“We can see that the recent weakening of the peso along with other
currencies in the region is consistent with [the] more aggressive
monetary policy normalization in advanced economies, particularly the
US Fed,” BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. said during the
briefing.

Since the Philippine peso performs about average compared to its

regional rivals when measured against the US dollar, Dakila claimed that
external factors are the main reason for the local currency’s continued
weakening.

“You can see that this is more a strong dollar phenomenon rather than
something that is attributable to domestic considerations,” he said.
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“Again, it’s a balancing act and we continue to look at not just one
indicator but in a broad range of indicators,” he added.

It should be noted, however, that the Philippine peso’s dropping to its

lowest in almost 17 years comes the same month the Philippine peso
broke the 53:$1 mark.

There were forecasts that amid the Philippine peso’s further devaluation,
imports could become more expensive for the country and thus, could
make it harder for the Philippines to attain economic recovery, especially
as the currency depreciation comes in the middle of a pandemic and
skyrocketing prices of petroleum products.

International analysts earlier said the Philippine peso may become one of
the worst-performing Asian currencies from 2022 to 2024 as some
predicted it to depreciate up to P55 against the US dollar by 2023 and
2024.

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