The Philippine peso slid to a fresh historic low on Tuesday, April 28, breaching the ₱61 level against the US dollar amid continued pressure on global markets and geopolitical tensions.

Intraday trading saw the peso weaken to ₱61.08 per dollar, marking its lowest level on record. It opened the day at ₱60.80, already below its previous all-time low of ₱60.748 recorded on March 31, before continuing its downward trend throughout the session.

The local currency had briefly strengthened earlier in the year, reaching ₱57.665 per dollar at the end of February, following gains in January when it closed at ₱58.841.

However, the peso began to lose ground after heightened tensions in the Middle East following the US-Israeli strike on Iran, which triggered renewed global market uncertainty.

Since then, the peso has repeatedly hit new record lows and crossed the psychologically significant ₱60-per-dollar threshold, reflecting sustained depreciation pressures.

The depreciation also increases the government’s debt servicing burden, as roughly one-third of the country’s obligations are owed to foreign creditors and denominated in US dollars, along with portions of domestic debt tied to foreign currency.