MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine peso has continued its slide against the dollar, closing at 54.47:$1 on Wednesday, according to the Bank Association of the Philippines’ (BAP) foreign exchange summary.
The local currency is at its lowest level in over 16 years or since Nov. 23, 2005, when the Philippine peso closed at 54.56.
June 10 marked the day when the Philippine peso crossed the 53:$1 mark.
A further weakness of the peso could make imports more expensive for the country amid a COVID-19 pandemic and as it grapples with the rising price of oil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, making it harder for the Philippines to recover.
London-based think tank Capital Economics earlier predicted in an April 28 report that the Philippine peso will become one of the worst-performing Asian currencies from 2022 to 2024, depreciating to 54:$1 in 2022 and further to 55 against the American dollar by 2023 and 2024.
READ: UK think tank: Peso to fall to 54 per dollar this year
Meanwhile, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has stated that it will soon discuss the current state of the Philippine peso during the Monetary Policy Stance press briefing on Thursday — which will go live on its official social media pages at 3 p.m.
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