Shooting Stars and the Falling Peso

O. Roncesvalles

I remember a time in 2012 when many big-bank economists predicted that the Philippine peso would remain a shooting star at around P42/$ by year-end. The peso then was a ‘darling’ currency, having nicely recovered from a low of about P49/$ in the wake of the Financial Crisis of 2008. Little did the bank economists know that there would soon be a literal u-turn; the peso shortly began its doldrums to where it is today at P53/$. It hasn’t been a pretty sight for the responsible authorities at the central bank.

Read on…

Comments

  1. love this comment to habito’s latest: from “mark” • 5 hours ago

    hahahahahahaha

    This is why Economics isn’t rocket science or any other hard science, and it never will be. Human motivations, appetites, relationships, expectations–the raw stuff of economic life–cannot be perfectly modeled or reduced to an unvarying equation. Unlike the tides or electromagnetic waves or chlorophyll, human beings have free will. Men and women choose for themselves, and no economist or policymaker or central planners can ever evr EVER know with perfect certainty what those choices will be. I can’t stress enough how fu—ng evil and criminal central banks are for having sole autonomy on controlling rates.

    Central banks pretends that it manages market rates for the economy, but in reality it manages market rates for the banks. When their managing fails, they bail out the banks but not the economy. Economics is not rocket science or a science of any discipline. It is a religious cult with temples and high priests.

    The biggest problem in the field of economics is that economists have overwhelming financial interest in lying, far greater than any interest in discovering truth. The field is inherently corrupt and I see no cure even possible for the problem.

    Economics is one of the simplest things in the world. It’s a market in which humans exchange goods and services at rate that’s agreed upon a priori. For example, I’m doing payroll today – couldn’t be simpler – my employees did stuff and I pay them a rate we agreed upon. Oh wait, the central banks and States are involved. Never mind.

    Beam me up Scotty. No intelligent life form on this planet!

  2. RUDY ROMERO: “BSP head should speak up on issues”
    …This country has not developed a practice where the Governor of the BSP goes beyond bland descriptions of the national economic situation and inoffensive references to the government’s economic policies.

    There are numerous policies that merit either rationalization or outright scrapping. As the head of the most important economic institution in the land, the Governor of the BSP, speaking on behalf of the Monetary Board, should make his voice heard on matters that impact negatively on the Philippine economy’s stability and growth. How I—and, I am sure, the nation—would like to hear Governor Nestor A. Espenilla’s real views on TRAIN, for one.
    http://manilastandard.net/opinion/columns/business-class-by-rudy-romero/268403/bsp-head-should-speak-up-on-issues.html

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