President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has vowed to protect the Philippine peso and bring down food prices as the currency hit a record low against the US dollar and rising inflation continued to pressure household budgets.
Marcos urged the public not to panic over the peso’s depreciation, attributing its weakness partly to higher global oil prices and their effects on the economy.
“Do not take it with alarm. Don’t panic,” Marcos said in a chance interview in Muntinlupa on Wednesday.
“Our policy towards the peso is to continue to defend the peso as hard as we possibly can,” he said, adding that the government had the tools and resources to protect the currency, including the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
The peso closed at a record-low P64.17 against the US dollar on Tuesday after breaching the P64 level for the first time.
A weaker peso makes imported goods, including fuel, more expensive, potentially increasing transportation, electricity and other household expenses.
On rising prices of basic commodities, Marcos said the government had greater capacity to intervene in food prices than in international oil costs.
“It’s basically oil we can do nothing about. Food, we can,” he said, adding that the administration was doing everything it could to reduce food prices.
Marcos acknowledged that monetary policy alone could not address inflation caused by supply constraints and higher production and import costs.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that inflation accelerated to 7.2% in September from 6.1% in August, driven partly by faster price increases in food, transportation and housing-related expenses.
The September inflation rate was the highest since March 2023, adding pressure on households already coping with rising living costs.
📷 Bongbong Marcos / Facebook
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