The Philippine peso on Friday, 16 December, improved to P55.56 against the US dollar from P55.685 close a day ago.

It opened the day at P55.85 and traded between P55.88 and P55.56.

The local currency's average level for the day stood at P55.709.

Volume declined to $902.27 million from $1.055 billion a day ago.

While the local currency strengthened against the greenback by 0.125 on Friday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that both businesses and consumers in the Philippines expect the peso to depreciate against the US dollar in the fourth quarter of 2022, first quarter of 2023, and the next 12 months.