Palace cites MidEast crisis, El Niño, political noise in record-low peso vs dollar

MANILA — Malacañang cites the ongoing Middle East conflict, the El Niño impact and the “political noise” as factors causing the new record-low on weakening of peso against the dollar.

The peso fell to a new record low of P63.06 against the dollar at the close of trading on Oct. 15.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the raging crisis in the Middle East continues to affect the Philippine economy, while farmers and fisherfolk have started to bear the brunt of the El Niño phenomenon which is expected to worsen in the coming months.

“Parte ito ng maaaring makapagdulot ng pagtaas ng dolyar o pagbaba ng value ng peso,” she said in a briefing Thursday, October 15.

Castro further argued that the political noise, which she did not specify also affects investor confidence in the Philippines.

“Plus, the political noise na intensyong isinasagawa para masira ang ginagawang pagsisikap ng administrasyon. Political noise na may kasamang fake news. Walang ginawa, oras-oras, araw-araw, fake news!” she said.

The Palace official assured that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his administration is on top of the situation by studying measures to mitigate its effect on ordinary Filipinos.

“Pero sa ngayon, ang mandato po rito patungkol sa foreign exchange at performance ng Philippine peso ay nasa mandato po ng BSP,” she said.

“Pero ang Pangulo at ang administrasyon ay nakatutok po rito para mas magawan ng paraan at the same time para mapag-aralan pa kung ano pa ang maaaring epekto nito sa ating mga kababayan at kung ano pa ang puwedeng gawin ng ating administrasyon para iyong nadaranas ng ating mga kababayan ay ma-lessen, ma-mitigate iyong hirap ng ating mga kababayan,” Castro added.