Peso up over projections of decent economic growth for Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The peso inched up by 10 centavos on the first trading day of the week amid expectations that the Philippines would manage to post a decent growth rate in 2011 or over the short term even amid a weak global economy.

The local currency closed at 43.295 against the US dollar on Monday, up from 43.395 on Friday.

Intraday high hit 43.29:$1, while intraday low settled at 43.505:$1. Volume of trade amounted to $1.118 billion from $1.029 billion previously.

Traders said some profit-seeking portfolio investors were still keen on buying Philippine securities given the country’s growth prospects.

The Philippines grew by 4 percent in the first semester, and is projected by the government to grow between 4.5 and 5.5 percent for the full year.

The growth forecast for the year is actually a slowdown from the 7.6 percent in 2010, but this is still much better than the growth projections for industrialized countries in the West.

Fitch Ratings also said in a report released Monday that the Philippines has become one of the countries in emerging Asia likely to be the least vulnerable to liquidity problems in the international financial community that might arise should global risk aversion worsen.

The country’s resilience is attributed to its growing foreign exchange reserves, which is driven in part by steady flow of remittances.