MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine peso sank to a new record low on Tuesday amid strong expectations of another rate cut at the Dec. 11 policy meeting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The local currency shed 28.5 centavos from its previous finish to close at 59.22 against the US dollar. That beat the previous record low of 59.17 seen last Nov. 12.
The depreciation happened a few days before the BSP’s final rate-setting meeting for the year.
All 13 economists surveyed by the Inquirer last week expected the powerful Monetary Board to slash the benchmark rate––which guides bank lending costs––by a quarter point to 4.5 percent at the policymaking body’s meeting this week.
