PH peso drops to 57.18 to US$1

 

OFWs, including those in HK, will get more for their dollar when they send money home

The peso has further lost its value versus the US dollar, dropping to as low of 57.29 to the greenback today, Wednesday, before ending the day at P57.18, still the lowest since November 2022.

The peso first breached the 57-level mark for the first time in 17months yesterday, after shedding 19.2 centavos from Monday’s 56.808. The peso last dropped below 57 to $1 on Sept. 6, 2022.

In Hong Kong, the exchange rate with the peso is now HK$1-30, as the city’s currency is pegged to the US dollar. 

TAWAG NA!

News of the peso decline and the consequent strengthening of the HKD led many migrant workers to call on each other to send money home so they could take advantage of the favorable exchange rate.

But most said it was too late for them to make a bit more from their monthly remittance, as the peso drop happened halfway through the month.

In the Philippines, the peso’s decline past the psychological barrier of 57-per-dollar level is seen to have put pressure on the central bank to intervene to support the country’s beleaguered currency.

PINDUTIN DITO

But Governor Eli Remolona said he is comfortable with the peso’s current level and that the central bank usually lets currency adjustments to happen unless the drop is too drastic.

He also said the peso’s recent depreciation does not mean that the local currency is performing poorly, but because the US dollar has become stronger.

Remolona also partly attributed the peso’s decline to political tensions in the region and speculation over the US Federal Reserve’s next step.

 “I wouldn’t say it is performing poorly. I would say it’s adjusting to some events initially weakened along with other emerging market currencies because of what’s going on in the Middle East,” Remolona said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“So it’s not a case of a weak peso. It’s a case of a strong dollar,” he added.

Finance analysts meanwhile say that the peso has held up relatively compared to the currencies of other countries in the region.

The Japanese yen, for example, has dropped near its lowest level to the US dollar in 34 years,, following remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that US interest rates will remain elevated for an extended period.

The peso is expected to remain volatile until the Fed implements its first rate cut, initially forecast by July. Analysts see it stabilizing at around P56.20 to the dollar by then.

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