Philippine Peso Breaks Past 64 per Dollar as Marcos Says ‘Don’t Panic’

Photo: Marek Ślusarczyk (Tupungato), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (file photo of Philippine peso banknotes and coins).

The Philippine peso weakened past 64 to the U.S. dollar this week, touching an intraday low of ₱64.17 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, according to The Philippine Star. The peso record low prompted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to address markets the next day. “Don’t panic,” he said on Oct. 28. “We have all the tools to defend the peso.”

How far the peso has fallen

The peso closed at ₱63.95 on Monday, Oct. 26, its 32nd record-low close this year, The Philippine Star reported. BusinessWorld, which counts differently, said the currency has had 38 record-low days in 2026.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts Philippine growth of 3.4% in 2026, the second-lowest among the region’s five largest economies after Thailand, according to IMF figures compiled by regional analysts. Slower growth tends to weigh on a currency by reducing foreign investment inflows.

The central bank’s response

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 5.5% on Oct. 22, its fourth straight hike, according to the central bank. Governor Eli Remolona has said the BSP does not raise rates to defend the peso but to keep inflation in check, the Daily Tribune reported. The BSP has long said it intervenes in the currency market only to smooth excessive volatility.

Higher borrowing costs have spread through the bond market. The 10-year government bond yield stood at about 8.04% on Oct. 22, according to the Asian Development Bank’s AsianBondsOnline.

By the numbers: the reserve buffer

Gross international reserves (GIR), the BSP’s stock of foreign currency and gold that it can use to support the peso, fell to $99.997 billion at the end of September 2026 from $109.06 billion a year earlier, a decline of 8.31%, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported. !Unverified claim, Philippine News Agency (Government of the Philippines) It is the lowest level since September 2023, when reserves stood at $98.116 billion.

The BSP says the buffer is still adequate. Reserves cover 6.3 months of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, and are 3.2 times the country’s short-term external debt, according to the central bank’s figures. International rules of thumb treat three months of import cover as a minimum.

What a weaker peso means

A weaker peso raises the cost of imported fuel, rice and other goods, which can push up inflation. It also raises the peso value of remittances sent home by millions of overseas Filipino workers, a major source of household income, and makes Philippine exports cheaper abroad. For the government, it increases the cost of servicing dollar-denominated debt.

Traders will watch the BSP’s next policy meeting and U.S. interest-rate decisions for direction. For wider regional economic coverage, see our Southeast Asia news hub, and for the security backdrop in Manila, our report on the ADMM-Plus meetings in Cebu.

Background: how the peso got here

The peso traded around ₱58 per dollar at the start of 2025, according to BSP reference rates, before a long slide this year. Its previous record lows came in 2022, near ₱59, when the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates rapidly and the dollar surged against most Asian currencies. The BSP responded then with a series of rate hikes and currency intervention.

The Philippines typically runs a large trade deficit because it imports most of its fuel and much of its food and machinery. That gap is partly covered by remittances from overseas Filipino workers, which the BSP reports at more than $30 billion a year in personal remittances, and by earnings from business process outsourcing.

A weaker currency is not uniformly bad. Exporters and families receiving remittances benefit, and economists often note that a gradual depreciation can help a trade-deficit country adjust. The risk the BSP watches is a disorderly fall that feeds inflation and erodes confidence. Official rates, reserves and inflation data are published on the BSP’s website; the next GIR report, for October, is due in early November.

The peso’s slide is one of several pressures on the Philippines this month, alongside the security dispute with China in the South China Sea, which we track in our incident timeline.

Related coverage: Mindanao earthquake swarm. Find all of our regional reporting, plus country facts and official resources, on the Southeast Asia news hub.

Sources

• The Philippine Star: peso coverage, Oct. 28, 2026
• BusinessWorld: peso record lows
• Philippine News Agency: BSP says dollar reserves remain adequate amid decline

Additional sources

• Daily Tribune: Remolona says BSP not hiking rates to defend peso
• Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
• ADB AsianBondsOnline: Philippine bond yields