There is no magic exchange rate to the dollar for what some economists call an overvalued peso that hurts agriculture, manufacturing and industries. Dr. Raul V. Fabella of the University of the Philippines School of Economics pegs the ideal exchange rate at P45, the rate in 2010 – two years after the financial crisis and one year after the peso was undervalued at P53 to the dollar.
`It would have been good for us if we stayed at P45 but we didn`t stay there long,` he said in an interview. `As Dr. Fabella said, wag naman sana below P40,` said Dr. Rafaelita M. Aldaba, a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
