PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte lashing out at the international community was not the reason of the weakening of the Philippine peso, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Tuesday.
In a press conference, Diokno said that it was "not a big deal" that the peso dropped, noting that its rate weakened merely because of the "strengthening of the dollar."
"Well, the depreciation of the peso is, as far as I am concerned, no cause for concern," the Budget Secretary said.
"The depreciation of the peso is a result of the strengthening of the dollar more than the weaking of the peso," he added.
On Monday, it was reported that the Philippine peso hit a seven-year low in heavy trading as importers' dollar demand added to downward pressure stemming from stock outflows.
Reports said the peso lost 0.60 percent to 48.26 per dollar, its weakest since September 2009.
As the peso weakened against the US dollars, Diokno noted that the families of Filipino migrant workers and the exporters would benefit while importers would suffer from it.
Diokno said the depreciation of peso would not take very long as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is now looking at the situation.
He, however, stressed that the administration's policy stance in economics would be retained.
Diokno said there was nothing to worry because the country has enough gross international reserves, which could suffice the 10-month import requirements.
"Right now, the gross international reserves with the Central Bank is at $85.7 billion. That's equivalent to 10 months of our import requirements," Diokno said.
"If you have the equivalent of three months of imports, it's okay. We have the equivalent of 10 months, all right," he added.
He added that the public should not be disturbed about the possible higher inflation as it was unlikely to happen.
"The other fear is that the depreciation of the peso will result in higher inflation. Again, that is displaced because with that, our inflation target, official inflation target is two to four percent. We are much lower than two. The last time I looked at it, it's 1.4 percent," Diokno said. (Sunnex)
