BPO workers to benefit from weakening peso

The Department of Finance said that at least 1.3 million Filipinos working in the business process outsourcing industry (which bills its overseas clients in US dollars), should stand to benefit from the weakening of the local currency. According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III the BPO industry and families of overseas Filipino workers will get more from every dollar they receive, and he defended the stance in which market forces would be allowed to dictate foreign exchange movements, with monetary authorities intervening only during times of extreme volatility. The peso closed at P51.17 a dollar last week, but the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said again that there is no cause for alarm over the peso’s decline.