Peso rises to strongest level in over 2 months

The Philippine peso closed at 56.94:$1 on Wednesday—its strongest level in more than two months—but Goldman Sachs warned that stabilizing the local currency might dampen economic growth as this would entail greater cuts in government spending.

Market watchers said the peso was benefiting from a temporary correction of the US dollar.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said Wednesday’s closing was the strongest since 56.77 on Sept. 13 or 10 weeks ago.

“President Marcos signaled that the government may have to defend the peso in the coming months [through interest rate hikes] consistent with earlier and recent signals from the economic team…

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