Peso closes at P47:$1 level, marks four-year high

The Philippine peso closed at P47:$1 level on Monday to mark its strongest performance in over four years, driven mainly by economic recovery efforts.

The local currency gained 11.5 centavos to close at P48.045:$1 from last Thursday's finish of P48.045:$1. This is the strongest close of the peso since September 22, 2016 when it closed at P47.83:$1.

Monday's finish comes amid the three-year retail treasury bond (RTB) offering of the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which has already generated an initial P22.218 billion during its rate-setting auction last week.

The government, through the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, also allowed the resumption of religious gatherings and other activities in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) starting Monday.

"The peso exchange rate appreciated vs. the US dollar today... after the latest measures to reopen the economy and the ongoing RTB offering that could entail foreign investors/buyers with US dollars to convert to pesos," Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), said in a mobile message.

"Peso also stronger after the latest decline in the US dollar vs. major global currencies to two-week lows amid less demand for the US dollar as a safe haven amid new record highs in the US stock markets and in other stock markets around the world amid improved global market risk appetite amid the reduction in new COVID-19 cases," he added.

Ricafort also noted the slight reduction in remittances in 2020, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported personal remittances fell by 0.8% in 2020 to $2.890 billion, narrower than the 2% decline earlier anticipated.—AOL, GMA News