Intervene when necessary
“Moving forward, we expect the BSP to act decisively based on available data and intervene when necessary to reduce exchange rate volatility. The administration’s approach is focused on fiscal discipline and more efficient use of public funds; this means reviewing spending proposals carefully and prioritizing programs that have high economic and social returns,” Castro added, reading from the same statement.
Castro’s conveyance of the statement from the Executive Secretary, Ralph Recto came as the country’s currency breached the P62 mark, although it slightly snapped its four-session streak of record low on Thursday at P62.52 per US dollar — a 0.07 percent improvement from Wednesday’s record low of P62.565.
The currency’s recovery was largely driven by a weaker dollar and lower US Treasury yields.
Global oil prices, which pushed the peso over the P62 per US dollar level for the first time in history last Friday, eased following comments from US President Donald Trump that he did not expect the US bombing campaign against Iran to continue much longer.
Castro stressed that the immediate relief of the Marcos administration to the weakening peso is proper spending on appropriate projects.
“Government funds should not be wasted, and there must be discipline in public spending to improve the economy,” according to Castro.
Hasten spending to achieve growth
Meanwhile, picking up from the government’s position on the subject, Makati Business Club chairman Edgar Chua said the Marcos administration should hasten spending in order to achieve growth by yearend.
“We still have four months left. There are a lot of headwinds, and it won’t be addressed very quickly. We know that the disbursement of government has been slow. We’ve seen that some agencies are underutilized in terms of their spending, and the government is one of the main engines driving the economy. So, hopefully, in these next four months, the government can catch up with its spending, which will then pump-prime the economy,” Chua told reporters in an interview on Thursday.
Can’t blame the government
The MBC chairman said business can’t blame the government because of the corruption issues it had faced, particularly in the flood control infrastructure projects.
“They’re quite careful, which is understandable. I remember during the first year of the Aquino administration, the administration was careful because they wanted to ensure that the disbursement was transparent. But in the second year, they were able to catch up, and so we had very good growth during the next five years,” he said.
