What 50 Pesos To A Dollar Means To You

There’s the usual dismal narratives plaguing our news lately, and then there’s that bit about the Philippine peso hitting 50 to $1. It’s something you keep hearing all the time, slightly buried underneath more pressing issues like Marcos, systemic misogyny, and whatever tomfoolery (to put it nicely) the president is up to on a given week.

Now that it’s happened, though, you need to know why it should be a big deal, if you don’t already know yet. Basically, the weaker our peso is against the US dollar, the standard of purchasing things around the world, the less power we’ll have to buy things with the money we have.

Here are a few things that’ll be affected by this development:

1. First, the good news: if you’re earning dollars, you’ll be getting more pesos. The weaker the peso is, the more of it you’ll get when you exchange it. In theory, if you just look at this side, it’s sounds like a good thing, maybe in the early going. If this keeps up, though, soon…
2. …Prices for everything, especially imported stuff, will be going up. It might not be that noticeable here, where prices are already high no matter what you do thanks to inflation. If you buy a lot of imported goods, you’ll probably see their prices go up first. And if you like to shop online, especially for those who like to buy things from abroad like video games (*coughSteamBlackFridaySalecough*) or pay for streaming services priced in USD, you’ll immediately notice that you’ll be spending more for the same thing.
3. But exports could go up, because now our stuff is cheaper. However, if our friends from other countries have their own purchasing powers weakened, it might mean that they won’t be able to buy our stuff, too.
4. Rising import costs also means gas prices will go up even though they’re falling around the world. And higher gas prices means higher prices for everything else, because transporting and delivering everything you need and want to buy will cost more.
5. And speaking of travel, international travel is gonna be a little harder. This is pretty clear if you go to a place where you need to carry dollars. You’re going to spend even more when you’re out there—but the good part, at least, is tourists coming in here will be able to spend more.