Peso inches lower for fifth straight day
For the fifth consecutive trading day, the Philippine peso sank to still another new all-time weakest position, closing at 57.18:$1 on Thursday.
The local currency lost 4.5 centavos from the previous closing of 57.135:$1 on Sept. 7.
Nicholas Mapa, senior Philippines economist at ING Bank, said that while it might be true that the peso has simply fallen victim to a resurgent dollar, it has been weaker than most other currencies, having lost more than 10 percent of its value against the US dollar since the start of 2022.
“This underperformance can be traced to the Philippines’ substantial widening of the country’s trade deficit,” Mapa said. “Surging imports—partly due to a bloated energy import bill—has easily outpaced export growth.”
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort, said the peso further weakened partly due to the seasonal third-quarter increase in importation by manufacturers in preparation for the increase in demand during the fourth quarter.
