A stronger peso may not be good for our country
By greenpeas
@greenpeas (998)
Philippines
August 4, 2011 3:09am CST
Why are the Chinese currency so diminished, and yet their country's economy is flourishing? They say that a weak currency is preferable for developing countries like say ours. A strong currency is supposed to make imports cheap. But why are the prices of local goods not declining? Why are the prices of utilities like electricities always going up?
I believe that it is not entirely the faulf of strong or weak currency, but again it all boils down to corruption. Businesses are supposed to be not overpricing even when they are already profitting. Instatiable greed in cahoots with government officials who are also benefitting from these companies in these times when our people can barely buy what they need. OFWs struggling to earn in other countries see their remittances' value decline. I dont think we can expect our hardworking OFWs to find equivalent job in our country right now. We need to become a manufacturing-based country, providing millions of jobs. Not everybody can become call center operators.
PNoy must balance the pros and cons but he should take notice that we are still a developing nation. There should be a trickle down effect in terms of prices of basic goods and utilities...tangible proof that a stronger currency is really good for the country and not just for the greedy and wealthy few. What I definitely agree on, is that the currency needs to be stable, because a fluctuating one is no good for any country.
10 responses
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
5 Aug 11
In my opinion there is pros and cons on everything.Like you said the peso is getting stronger against the dollar.The most affected are the dollars earners for the equivalent in pesos diminishes even if you save it in banks the interest will be lower if we compute it in pesos.
It's good for those who procure raw materials needed to manufacture their products because it's lesser in costs, but bad for those whose business exports their products to overseas consumers.
Yes, your right too that some business owners maintain the prices of their products or sometimes overpriced it even though the price of raw materials they have used decreases.Another factor why they increased their prices too are the commissions given to some corrupt officials.
@santosmarichris (1849)
• Philippines
5 Aug 11
Hi! It is only good if you have peso investments cause now is the time to redeem them. But, if your source of money comes in dollars then it's really not good.
@jpso138 (7851)
• Philippines
4 Aug 11
Whether the peso is strong or not, for me it does not matter much for as long as the government is corrupt. Having a strong peso will give advantage to some and disadvantage to others depending on what kind of business or work they do. But regardless of what the economy is going through, the bottom line there is whether the people in the government is using our money wisely or are they just putting it in their pocket. If corruption is not eradicated, then our people will continue to suffer and our country will never flourish.
@ybong007 (6643)
• Philippines
5 Aug 11
To a certain degree, a stronger currency means more buying power in the world market. If you're an exporter then this would mean more profit but it's the way around for the importers. But like you said there are countries with weak currency but their economies are stronger such as Japan and China and that's because these countries make sure that their currencies maintain their value, or if it rises, it's not going to be that much or too low, to avoid it from affecting their own economy because whether it went up or went down, someone within will be affected. But that's just my own observation.
@flowerfest08 (1677)
•
4 Aug 11
i think it has a share of positive and negative effect in our country if the peso gets stronger, but will be unfortunate for those who works abroad, because it means that it will lessen what they earn if they convert it to peso.
@kitoypogi (6)
• Philippines
5 Aug 11
for me jpso and the others are right, but the good question is what should we do about the corrupts in the government, and what should the president do about the foreign who doesn't pay their taxes? because of that all of the big company in the Philippines are having a problem. all investors get the big pays.what should the government do about that.if i could only talk to the president i will ask him to investigate to those who doesn't pay the tax right and put all the corrupts in jail.
@se7enthbird (8307)
• Philippines
4 Aug 11
in my opinion for now we dont need to focus on how to make a stronger peso. i think we need to focus in corruption, on money that has filled politicians pockets instead of using it for the better of our country. there are so many things to straighten than focusing on how to make peso stronger. i believe our peso is strong enough or else this politician wont get rich form getting peso from us. if the corruption will lessen or totally stop the people will get the benefit and the country will rise.
@lampar (7584)
• United States
4 Aug 11
You need to worry less about your Peso strength, but focus on incresing your GDP and nation productivity along with sustainable economic growth. End corruption in public sector; stimulate domestic and foreign demand on your goods and services. Have a viable long term fiscal and monetary policy that encourage investment and economic activity for development. Your Peso will take care of itself in a free market after you achieve the necessary goals as mentioned by me. 
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
4 Aug 11
I think the main reason why a strong peso is not really good is because we have a lot of our countrymen who are dependent on the green buck as you mentioned. We sent people abroad from the professionals to the laborers and down to the domestic helpers, nothing wrong with that, everybody is entitled to better their lives. Now people earning in dollars saturate their earnings by helping relatives ( sick mothers, tuition fees ets..), they also use it up paying for home amortizations, paying for lands they pawned just so they could go abroad, again nothing wrong with that cause everybody is entitled to own a home or better their lives. The problem I think lies on that they saturate their dollar earnings on everything except save and invest on something in the country that would prepare them when it's time to retire and when something like a weakened dollar would bring about, it's always I have to leave for abroad because I have bills to pay and a family to support rather than save my earnings so when the time comes I do not have to leave anymore because I would already have enough capital to earn here what I earn abroad. What do you think?
@kareemadivina (1230)
• Philippines
4 Aug 11
A stronger currency has it's own advantage and disadvantage.It's true,the first ones who will be affected are the Overseas Filipino Workers because their hard earned money will be decrease if converted to peso.The government should create jobs so Filipinos not be working overseas anymore.Maybe it can also help if Value Added Tax(VAT)will be abolish in the basic commodities to help alleviate poverty.Poor Filipinos only suffers more because of additional taxes which only benefitted corrupt government officials.
