Ngayong pababa ng pababa ang ating currency (against the US $), at pataas ng pataas ang mga bilihin principally ang fuel oil, ay kailangang magisip na tayo kung paano natin matutulungan ang ating mahal na bayan.
Una rito, iwasan natin ang pagbili ng imported items, lalo na yung mga di masyadong kailangan tulad ng beauty products, clothes, cleaning products sa bahay kotse atbp at magtipid tayo sa ating mga gamit—kuryente, tubig at pati load ng cellphone.
Dumaan na tayo sa hirap, nung Asian Financial Crisis at iba pang mga krisis ng mga nakaraang taon at dekada. Hindi kaiba ito. We managed because 1) nag belt tightening tayo at 2) nagtipid tayo sa gastusin at 3) naging maingat tayo sa paggamit ng tubig, kuryente at marami pang bagay. Kayang kaya natin itong lagpasan ngayon.
Simple lang itong mga suhestyon ko, pero malaki ang impact niyan sa ating ekonomiya. Mas madali tayo makakahon sa kahirapan. Kapag sabay sabay nating gagawin ang mga ito, makikita niyo gagaan ang ating mga problema.
Isipin mo nag depreciate ang peso kahapon sa dealing floor sa P54.5895 mula sa P54.47 nung Wednesday at nung Thursday ay nasa P54.47 to the dollar, which reports said was the worst closing in 16.5 years or since it ended P54.74 in November 2005.
At sabi nga ng ekonomista ng China Banking Corp. na si Domini Velasquez “The peso’s performance continues to be driven by fundamental factors such as a strong dollar and the country’s increasing import demand.”
“The BSP’s dovish stance on monetary policy normalization against aggressive rate hikes of the Fed contributed to the recent weakening of the Philippine peso. Even if BSP hikes its policy rate by 25 bps in every meeting this year, we expect domestic policy rates to continue to lag behind,” wika ni Velasquez.
“This gradual pace of BSP’s monetary tightening will contribute to the general weakness of the peso as investors will opt to move to higher yielding assets.”
Ayon sa isang survey ng Business World, 15 out of 16 analysts anticipate a rate hike at the June 23 meeting.
Nine analysts expect the Monetary Board to raise rates by 25 bps. Six analysts see an increase of 50 bps, after the US Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 bps last week.
BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno and current Monetary Board member Felipe M. Medalla have said it is unlikely that they will raise key rates by more than 25 bps in today’s meeting.
“Personally, I do not like 50 basis points. It signifies that we know something bad that you don’t know. It could be misread, as ‘wow, what does the central bank know that we don’t know,’” sinabi ng incoming Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Medalla.
The BSP still has the “luxury of time and large reserves,” sabi ni Medalla noon. “If the markets think we’re behind the curve, they will attack the peso,” he added.