Rise in COVID-19 cases weighs on peso

The Philippine peso closed nearly unchanged against the US dollar on Monday, albeit still slightly weaker, dragged by the recent increase in new cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The local currency lost 0.1 centavos to close at P48.561:$1 versus last Friday's finish of P48.56:$1.

The health department on Monday reported an additional 3,356 confirmed cases, with the country extending its streak of recording over 3,000 cases for the past several days. The total of confirmed cases is now at 597,763, including includes 545,912 recoveries, 39,330 active cases, and 12,521 deaths.

"The peso exchange rate was marginally weaker... after the recent surge in new COVID-19 local cases to above 3,000 per day levels, the highest in five months or since October 2020 that could limit any further moves to re-open the economy, despite the arrival and rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine doses in the country since last week," Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), said in a mobile message.

Ricafort also attributed Monday's depreciation to the decline in the local stock market which plunged by 1.8%, as well as the surge in global crude oil prices to nearly two-year highs. This could lead to higher oil import bills and increase demand for U.S. dollars to pay for imports.

He also cited the progress of the US stimulus, and the stronger-than-expected employment data in February when the United States created 379,000 jobs in February to surpass economist forecasts of 200,000.—AOL, GMA News