MANILA, Philippines—The peso was more price competitive in 2010 than in the previous year because it weakened in real terms against other currencies in the region.

As a result, monetary officials said the peso’s standing in the region helped boost performance of Filipino exporters.

In a report issued Friday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas effectively refuted earlier claims that the peso’s appreciation against the US dollar was hurting the country’s export sector.

The BSP said that while the peso strengthened against the greenback last year, it fell against competing Asian currencies in real terms, thereby making Philippine-made goods more affordable compared with merchandise from neighboring countries.

“The peso gained external price competitiveness against the basket of [currencies of] competitor countries,” the central bank said in its 2010 Balance of Payments Report.

According to the report, the peso depreciated in real terms by 3.8 percent against currencies of South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

The peso’s standing in relation with other currencies in “real terms” is measured by taking into account the exchange rates of the peso against other currencies, as well as the difference of inflation in the Philippines from that of competing countries.

Exchange rates and price movements help determine affordability of exported goods.

The peso averaged at 45.13 against the US dollar last year, rising by 5.6 percent from 47.64 to a dollar the previous year.

The strengthening of the peso against the greenback prompted some exporters to complain about its ill effects on their sales performance. A strong peso makes Philippine-made goods more expensive and thus less competitive, they said.

Filipino exporters urged the BSP to intervene in the exchange rate movement by buying more dollars to deliberately weaken the peso to as low as 50 to a dollar.

But monetary officials insisted that concerns about declining competitiveness of Philippine exports due to the exchange rate was baseless, citing the fact that currencies of other Asian exporting countries were rising at a faster rate than that of the peso.

They said the fact that the country’s export income last year expanded by over 30 percent indicated that concerns over deteriorating competitiveness were unfounded.

The officials said the BSP was indeed buying dollars from the foreign exchange market, but added that the move was only meant to temper sharp and sudden appreciation of the currency.