Peso sinks as COVID-19 cases surge

The Philippine peso hovered around 4-month lows on Monday, dragged by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and the reimposition of restrictions across Metro Manila.

The local currency lost 8.5 centavos to close at P48.54:$1 from last Friday's P48.455:$1.

The health department on Monday reported 5,404 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest reported daily tally in seven months, after recording more than 4,000 new infections in the past few days.

The latest figures brought the Philippines' total confirmed cases to 626,893. This includes 53,479 active cases; 560,577 recoveries; and 12,837 deaths.

"The peso exchange rate closed weaker today... after the latest increase in new COVID-19 cases to new seven-month highs and the start of the two-week curfew in Metro Manila," Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), said in a mobile message.

"(These) weighed on economic recovery prospects and resulted to lower local stock market to new four-month lows," he elaborated.

Metro Manila is set to implement uniform curfew hours of 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. in the next two weeks starting March 15, on top of the liquor ban to be implemented in several cities.—AOL, GMA News