The Philippine peso strengthened beyond 58 per US dollar in mid-February, marking its firmest level in more than four months. The move came after the country reported record cash remittances for both December and full-year 2025. Remittances in December rose 4.2% year-on-year to an all-time high of $3.52 billion. For 2025 as a whole, inflows increased 3.3% to a record $35.63 billion, equivalent to 7.3% of GDP and 6.4% of GNI, underscoring the sector’s structural importance to the external accounts and domestic consumption.
The United States remained the largest source of remittances, accounting for 39.7% of total flows, followed by Singapore (7.3%), Saudi Arabia (6.6%), and Japan (5%). The peso also benefited from renewed foreign interest in domestic assets, with the benchmark PSEi up around 14% from its November low, when a major corruption scandal unsettled markets. The subsequent rebound has helped restore investor confidence, allowing the government to resume large-sized bond issuance for the first time since April of last year.
