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Philippine peso plunges to all-time low of P56.77 vs US dollar

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA <strong>(UPDATED)</strong> - The Philippine peso plunged to an all-time low of P56.77 to the US dollar on Friday, Sept. 2, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) showed.</p><p>The peso even traded for as low as P56.90 during the day, according to BAP data. </p><p>Friday&#x27;s close was weaker than the previous all-time record low of P56.45 on October 14, 2004. </p><p>&quot;PHP (Philippine peso) slid to its weakest level to date, closing at P56.77 today. Ballooning trade deficit on account of surging imports coupled with financial outflows dragging on currency,&quot; ING Bank Manila&#x27;s Senior Economist Nicholas Mapa said in a Tweet. </p><p>Mapa said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is likely to keep a hawkish stance and bring the interest rate to 4.5 percent by the end of the year.</p><p>The central bank on Aug. 18 raised the country&#x27;s benchmark borrowing rate to 3.75 percent to tame inflation. It has so far raised the policy rate by 175 basis points.</p><p>BSP Gov. Felipe Medalla earlier said the recent interest rate hikes helped in <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/05/22/medalla-interest-rate-hikes-stabilizing-peso">stabilizing</a> the peso.</p><p>The dollar <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/30/22/stocks-extend-losses-after-fed-chiefs-warning">rallied</a> earlier this week after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Monday warned of more interest rate hikes to arrest inflation.</p><p>Medalla said the US policy adjustments is boosting the dollar and causing currency depreciation globally, not just the peso.</p><p>Economist Vic Abola, meanwhile, said early Friday the peso could strengthen temporarily in the last 2 months of the year due to the seasonal increase in remittances.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/business/09/02/22/holiday-ofw-remittances-to-strengthen-peso-temporarily">Seasonal OFW remittances seen to strengthen peso temporarily: economist</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/18/22/bsp-hikes-benchmark-rate-by-50-basis-points">Bangko Sentral hikes benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 3.75 percent</a></li></ul><div><strong>-- with reports from Agence France-Presse and Edson Guido, ABS-CBN News</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe __idm_id__="41000962" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2207217" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Philippine peso closed to an all-time low of P56.77 to the US dollar, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.