Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 27) — The peso is back at the ₱51 level versus the dollar after nine months.
Spot trading of the currency closed at ₱51.91 against the greenback Wednesday, strengthening by 11.5 centavos.
Analysts attribute this to a favorable domestic economic environment and a weaker dollar.
“On the domestic front, record remittances in December plus notable improvement in inflation expectations combined with the recent weakness in the U.S. dollar index (it dropped to below 96 as of writing from 97+ several days ago) have led to the current strength of the Peso against the dollar,” said Ron Acoba, chief investment strategist of Trading Edge.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported record-high remittances last December at ₱2.8 billion.
Inflation rate in February is also expected to further slow down from the January rate of 4.4 percent.
“The dollar fell against the majority of currencies after the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a Senate committee that “conflicting signals” warrant a patient approach to future policy changes. This caused the peso to close stronger at 51.91,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist of BDO Unibank Inc.
Analysts expect the peso to strengthen further in the coming days.
CNN Philippines’ senior news producer Jil Danielle Caro contributed to this report.
