THE Philippine peso weakened slightly against the US dollar on Friday on account of higher inflation print estimates for 2020 of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The local currency lost four centavos to close at P48.085:$1 from Thursday’s finish at 48.045.
This is the weakest for the peso in three weeks or since Nov. 26, but still among its strongest in more than four years since Sept. 23, 2016 when it finished at P47.99:$1.
Economist Michael Ricafort said the peso’s weakness was due to the “higher inflation estimates by the BSP from 2020-2022 after keeping the local policy rate unchanged at the record low of 2.00 percent as widely expected.”
The Monetary Board on Thursday also revised its inflation projection for this year to 2.6 percent versus the 2.4 percent in November, and for next year to 3.2 percent from the 2.7 percent forecast during the previous policy meeting after it decided to maintain key policy rates.
“The Monetary Board’s decision was based on its assessment that the inflation environment remains benign,” BSP Gov. Benjamin Diokno said. (GMA News)
