BSP Ditches Dollar Market Intervention, Lets Peso Find Its Own Floor

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, has shifted its approach to managing the peso's value against the US dollar. Under Governor Eli Remolona Jr., the BSP has adopted a framework that limits foreign exchange interventions to only the most extreme volatility events.

This shift in policy began taking shape in January 2024, when Remolona announced that a new framework was being finalized. The goal was straightforward: stop burning through reserves to prop up the peso during broad dollar strength, and instead reserve firepower for genuinely disruptive volatility.

By January 2026, Remolona described BSP interventions as 'minimal.' The peso had drifted toward P60 to P61 per dollar, levels that would have triggered aggressive defense in prior administrations. In October 2025, Remolona laid out the logic clearly: the BSP would only step in for 'excessively volatile' movements.

Targeted interventions rather than broad-based buying were deployed by the BSP in March 2026 when the peso neared key psychological levels again. The BSP's approach has been notable for its explicit and systematic nature, with Remolona publicly articulating a framework that prioritizes market determination of the exchange rate.