MANILA -- An official of the Department of Finance (DOF) said maintaining good macroeconomic policies, among others, will shield the Philippine economy from economic shocks overseas.
Because of fears arising from the financial woes of Turkey and Argentina as well as brewing trade wars among major economies, currencies, including the Philippine peso, have been weakening.
The peso is currently trading at 53-level to a greenback.
According to a Department of Finance (DOF) economic bulletin, penned by Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, the local currency has lost by around 7.39 percent to a US dollar to date.
The bulletin said the local unit “has been moving in tandem with Asian currencies amid severe exchange rate volatility spawned by the global trade war, the Turkey-Argentina crisis and the Fed monetary normalization.”
It said the peso’s depreciation is the third among the currencies of 12 fastest growing Asian countries.
Weakest to date is the Indian rupee, which fell by around 11.7 percent and was followed by the Indonesia rupiah, nine percent.
Fourth weakest is the Chinese Yuan, 4.97 percent while Korean won trailed at 4.46 percent; Taiwanese dollar, 3.46 percent; Singaporean dollar, three percent; Vietnamese dong, 2.65 percent; Malaysian ringgit, 2.31 percent; Thailand’s baht, 0.64 percent; and Hong Kong dollar, 0.45 percent;
“Maintaining good macroeconomic policies, thru manageable fiscal and BOP (balance of payment) balances, and adopting economic reforms thru tax reforms (is) still the best way to sustain growth and investment and, at the same time, steel the economy from external economic shocks,” the bulletin said.
Monetary officials said the peso’s performance is not worrisome since it continues to show resiliency, adding that the local currency registered weaker levels in the past but was able to recover. (PNA)
