Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Philippine peso
The Philippine peso (Filipino: piso) is the official currency of the Philippines. The word piso derives from the Spanish word peso, which means "weight". It is divided into 100 centavos or sentimos. Its ISO 4217 code is "PHP".
The symbol used for the Philippine peso is shown to the right. Within the Philippines, however, this symbol is rarely used for item prices. Much more common are a simple P, or a P with one horizontal line instead of two.
| Contents |
Denominations
Notes
- 1000 pesos
- 500 pesos
- 200 pesos³
- 100 pesos
- 50 pesos
- 20 pesos
- 10 pesos¹
- 5 pesos¹
Coins
- 10 pesos
- 5 pesos
- 2 pesos²
- 1 peso
- 50 centavos²
- 25 centavos
- 10 centavos
- 5 centavos
- 1 centavo
¹ No longer printed but still legal tender
² No longer minted (demonitized)
³ Commemorative
History
The peso has been a floating currency since the early 1960s. This means that its value is dictated by market forces. Under the US Administration (1903-1946), the value of the peso was $0.50 US dollars. This value was decreed by law, and applied to all Philippines currency (50 centavo coins were exchangeable for 25 US cents, 20 centavos were exchangeable for 10 US cents, 2 x 5 centavo coins were exchangeable for 5 US cents, and, I imagine, 20 x 1/2 centavo coins were exchangeable for 5 US cents). US Administrators also created coins specifically for the Culion Island Leper Colony. These were not intended to enter general circulation (for fear of spreading leprosy). When the Philippines became independent in 1946, the peso was pegged at two pesos per US dollar until the early 1960s, when then-President Diosdado Macapagal floated the currency.
Following the fall of the government of Ferdinand Marcos, the peso quickly devalued to around 25 pesos to the US dollar from six pesos when Marcos declared martial law in 1972. It would continue to devalue until Fidel Ramos assumed the presidency. During the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the peso fell to 40+ pesos to the dollar. It further fell to 50+ pesos to the dollar during the political crisis in the time of then-President Joseph Estrada. By the end of 2004 the peso was hovering at 56 pesos to the dollar. As of now, the peso is making steady progress towards recovery, having been traded at around 53-54 pesos.
Related articles
Current PHP exchange rates
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details