The dirham-peso exchange rate on Wednesday, September 19, continues to increase within the Php14.7 territory, as per the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) exchange bulletin.
The dirham-peso rate currently stands at Php14.7313 while peso stands at Php54.10 against the US dollar.
It should be noted, however, that rates may vary in different currency exchange centers.
Earlier, UAE remittance companies told The Filipino Times that the peso-dirham exchange rate, which has continuously been moving up since last year, is headed to Php15, citing different factors.
One of which is the US’ move to hike interests resulting to a struggling peso.
PH peso to hit Php58 against US dollar in 2019?
A London-based research firm sees Philippine peso to further slide to Php55 against US dollar within the year and to Php58 in 2019.
According to Capital Economics’ report titled “Peso plunges, Korea’s labor market woes continue” published on September 14, peso is seen to continue to weaken due to wider trade deficit, primarily brought by importation of iron and steel for the administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program.
“Looking ahead, the trade deficit is likely to widen further as imports of capital goods continue to flood in to support Duterte’s infrastructure drive,” Capital Economics said.
Moreover, the damages caused by Typhoon Ompong, particularly in the agriculture sector, is also seen to have a temporary impact on the prices of goods in the country.
“The lesson from previous natural disasters is that there is likely to be a short-term negative impact on gross domestic product, followed by a rebound supported by reconstruction efforts. Perhaps a bigger worry from an economic perspective is that ‘Mangkhut’ damages agricultural production, leading to an increase in food prices. This would put further pressure on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to tighten monetary policy,” Capital Economics said.
Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno however said that the results of the research wouldn’t be the trend as it is “unfounded”. “The fear that our peso to dollar [exchange rate will reach] P58 is totally unfounded. That’s unlikely,” Diokno said.
He then furthered he is optimistic about the continuous flow of remittances from OFWs which will help to stabilize the country’s economic situation: “Our current account deficit went down because we are building. We are expanding our economy so that our capacity also increases. We can still rely [on] our OFWs, [the remittances] actually increased. That is still reliable,”
