BSP says peso unlikely to hit P60:$1 soon

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is not expecting the Philippine peso to hit the P60:$1 level anytime soon, saying it is closely monitoring currency movements and any intervention would depend on how the exchange rate adjusts.

BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said the central bank stands ready to defend the peso, but intervention would depend on the extent of the volatility in the foreign exchange market.

“Depende (It depends) how it gets there. Just because it’s P60 (to a dollar) doesn’t mean we’ll defend,” he told reporters in an interview in Manila City on Friday night.

“Not soon,” he added, when asked if the peso could reach P60 per dollar.

The Philippine peso closed Friday, January 23, 2026 at P59.09:$1, strengthening from the P59.16 on the previous day. It has logged several record lows this month, the weakest at P59.46:$1 on January 15.

For its part, Malacañang has previously said that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wants to avoid the peso sliding to P60 against the dollar as this wold raise the country’s debt.

In terms of monetary policy, Remolona said a cut in the next Monetary Board meeting — scheduled on February 19 — is still uncertain.

“Even that cut, that’s still a maybe. Hindi pa sigurado (Still not sure),” he said, noting that this would largely depend on key economic data such as inflation and economic growth.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is scheduled to release the full-year 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) figures on Thursday, January 29, and January inflation on February 5.

“It would help us decide to cut. It’s not the only factor. Our mandate is inflation. Inflation is the number one factor,” he said.

“Depende sa data ‘yan eh (It depends on the data), so as usual, it’s one meeting at a time,” he added.

The Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) expects the central bank to cut rates by 50 basis points this year, while the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC) said a 25-basis-point cut is likely in the February meeting, and could possibly cut further should the Fed decide to do so. —KG, GMA Integrated News