Philippines ready to defend peso
MANILA: The Philippine central bank yesterday warned traders that it would intervene in the currency market to curb any speculative activity, and said it expects the peso to stabilise following its sharp slide to 11-year lows.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Nestor Espenilla described the peso’s weakness as a “healthy price correction”, and emphasised that the central bank believed a bounce against the US dollar was on the cards.
“The BSP will not tolerate speculative behaviour and stands ready to use its very ample international reserves and deploy its full policy and regulatory arsenal if necessary,” said Espenilla.
“In any case, we think that the peso has now sufficiently adjusted and can be expected to regain relative stability going forward,” said Espenilla.
The Philippine peso hit a fresh 11-year low against the US dollar on Friday, a day after the country reported that it clocked a forecast-topping 6.5 per cent growth in the second quarter to make it Asia’s second fastest growing economy after China. Reuters