Peso appreciates as market cheers passage of CREATE

The Philippine peso appreciated against the US dollar for the third consecutive session on Monday, on the back of the passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE).

The local currency gained 7.5 centavos to close at P48.415:$1 versus last Friday's finish of P48.49:$1.

Following last week's close, Malacañang announced that President Rodrigo Duterte signed CREATE into law, reducing corporate income tax to 25% for corporations and 20% for micro, small, and medium enterprises.

"Peso exchange rate stronger against... after the CREATE was finally signed into law on March 26, 2021," Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), said in a mobile message.

"Peso also stronger after the one-week ECQ would result to a slowdown in business/economic activities that would also slow down imports just like in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic/lockdowns," he added.

Monday was the first day of the reimposition of ECQ measures in NCR Plus— Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan—which will last until Sunday, April 4.

Ricafort said Monday's session was also affected by the recent movement in global crude oil prices which eased to three-week lows, possibly reducing the country's oil imports. — BM, GMA News