How the BSP's peso-dollar rate is set, and how the peso came to float

Every working day at 8:30 a.m., the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, Metadata on the Exchange rate statisticsOpens in a new tab (BSP) publishes a peso-dollar rate: the An average in which each value counts according to its assigned weight.Source: IATE, the terminology database of the European Union, weighted averageOpens in a new tab of the banks' trades of the day before. It leaves the rate to the market, and trades itself only to temper sharp moves.

Which rate, and what it is for

The BSP's statistics metadata define the rate: The peso-dollar reference exchange rate is based on the daily weighted average rate of peso-dollar (USD/PHP) spot (trade date plus 1 day) transactions dealt through the Philippine Dealing System (PDS).Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Statistics MetadataOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources Daily data are posted daily at 8:30 am of every working day in the BSP websiteSource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Statistics MetadataOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, in the Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin, released to serve as a guide on the prevailing spot exchange rates in the international and domestic currency marketsSource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Statistics MetadataOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources.

A circular letter of 1993 gives the rate its use in banks' books. The term PDSWAR for the daySource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, PDSWAR for the dayOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources means the weighted average rate of transactions done in the Philippine Dealing Systems at the end of the day published in the BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin the following banking daySource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, PDSWAR for the dayOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, and For end-of-month revaluation purposes, therefore, the rate to be used is the PDSWAR of the last banking day of the month published on the first banking day of the succeeding month.Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, PDSWAR for the dayOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

The BSP does not set the rate. Its primer on the exchange rate: the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) leaves the determination of the exchange rate to market forcesSource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Exchange RateOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, and the BSP’s participation in the foreign exchange market is limited to tempering sharp fluctuations in the exchange rateSource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Exchange RateOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources. Its statement of October 28, 2025: When we do participate in the market, it is largely to dampen inflationary swings in the exchange rate over time rather than to prevent day-to-day volatility.Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, BSP statement on the pesoOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

What the history shows

The BSP's monthly averages begin in January 1945, at 2 pesos per dollar, and stay there for 184 months, to April 1960. The yearly average is 3.00 pesos in 1961, 3.90 in 1965 and 3.92 in 1969, then 6.02 in 1970 and 6.43 in 1971.Figures computed by FXtab from:Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Peso per US Dollar RateOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabWorld Bank, Remittance Prices WorldwideOpens in a new tabKNOMAD / World Bank, Bilateral Remittance Estimates for 2021 using Migrant Stocks, Host Country Incomes, and Origin Country Incomes (millions of US$) (December 2022 Version)Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources The primer dates the change: The floating exchange rate system was adopted in 1970Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Exchange RateOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, because the government considered that occasional, large fluctuations—typical of the fixed exchange rate system— are more costly, destabilizing and disruptive to the economy than the more frequent but more gradual changes that may occur in a free floatSource: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Exchange RateOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources.

FXtab's daily series of the BSP's rate begins on January 3, 1978, at 7.37 pesos. It moves by more than 10% in a day 3 times, all before 1987: 27.3% on October 5, 1983, from 11.0015 to 14 pesos; 28.6% on June 6, 1984, from 14.002 to 18.002 pesos; and 10.3% on February 19, 1986, from 19.986 to 22.043 pesos. It holds one rate for 40 values or more 3 times: 14.002 pesos from October 12, 1983 to June 5, 1984 (157 values); 18.002 pesos from June 6, 1984 to September 5, 1984 (65 values); and 28 pesos from November 2, 1990 to April 5, 1991 (104 values). FXtab's archive holds no BSP document on the devaluations of 1983 and 1984. Since April 5, 1991, no rate has held for 40 values.Figures computed by FXtab from:Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Peso per US Dollar RateOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabWorld Bank, Remittance Prices WorldwideOpens in a new tabKNOMAD / World Bank, Bilateral Remittance Estimates for 2021 using Migrant Stocks, Host Country Incomes, and Origin Country Incomes (millions of US$) (December 2022 Version)Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

What it means for your money

The BSP's rate and the The European Central Bank, which began work on 1 June 1998; its Governing Council decides the monetary policy of the euro area.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, TimelineOpens in a new tab's agree closely. From April 1, 2005, when the ECB began to publish a peso The euro's rates the ECB publishes every working day for information only, based on a concertation between central banks around 14:10 CET.Source: European Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tab, the dollar-peso The exchange rate between two currencies, expressed through a third currency.Source: IATE, the terminology database of the European Union, cross rateOpens in a new tab from the ECB's reference rates is within 0.5% of the BSP's rate on 79.4% of the 5,219 days both have, with a median gap of 0.235%; the largest, 2.16%, was on July 18, 2008.Figures computed by FXtab from:Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Peso per US Dollar RateOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabWorld Bank, Remittance Prices WorldwideOpens in a new tabKNOMAD / World Bank, Bilateral Remittance Estimates for 2021 using Migrant Stocks, Host Country Incomes, and Origin Country Incomes (millions of US$) (December 2022 Version)Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

A sender pays more. The The World Bank, which provides low-interest loans, credits and grants to developing countries.Source: IATE, the terminology database of the European Union, World BankOpens in a new tab's survey of sending 200 US dollars from the United States to the Philippines found a median FX margin, the difference between the exchange rate a provider applies and the The exchange rate in the interbank market, where banks trade currencies with each other.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, GlossaryOpens in a new tab, of 1.31% in the first quarter of 2025, down from 2.75% in the second quarter of 2016, and a median What a sender pays in all to send money: the fees plus the margin of the provider's exchange rate over the interbank exchange rate.Source: United Nations, SDG indicator metadata, Indicator 10.c.1: Remittance costs as a proportion of the amount remittedOpens in a new tab of 4.41%, against 5.88% then (14 A business that sends money for its customers for a price, directly or through agents, such as a bank or a money transfer operator.Source: United Nations, SDG indicator metadata, Indicator 10.c.1: Remittance costs as a proportion of the amount remittedOpens in a new tab in 2025). The World Bank's Bilateral Remittance Estimates put the corridor at 12.8 billion US dollars in 2021.Figures computed by FXtab from:Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Peso per US Dollar RateOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabWorld Bank, Remittance Prices WorldwideOpens in a new tabKNOMAD / World Bank, Bilateral Remittance Estimates for 2021 using Migrant Stocks, Host Country Incomes, and Origin Country Incomes (millions of US$) (December 2022 Version)Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources FXtab's Check a quote computes the total cost of a quote you have in the same way, against the day's official rate.

Sources

Figures as of September 25, 2026, computed by FXtab from these sources; the data originate from BSP publications.