Philippine peso
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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. This symbol was added to the Unicode standard in version 3.2 and is assigned U+20B1. Due to the lack of font support, the symbol is often substituted with a simple P, a P with one horizontal line instead of two (available as the peseta sign, U+20A7, in some fonts), PHP, or Php.
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Denominations
Notes
Philippine_Peso_Bills.jpg
- 1000 pesos
- 500 pesos
- 200 pesos³
- 100 pesos
- 50 pesos
- 20 pesos
- 10 pesos¹
- 5 pesos¹
Coins
Philippine_Peso_Coins.jpg
- 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 Philippine peso, like the United States dollar, is descended from the Spanish pieces of eight. It is divided into 100 centavos. In the mid 20th Century, when the language on the currency was changed from English to Tagalog, they were labeled, in Tagalog, piso and sentimo, respectively.
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, etc.). 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
AUD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=AUD&to=PHP&submit=Convert) | CAD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=CAD&to=PHP&submit=Convert) | EUR (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=EUR&to=PHP&submit=Convert) | GBP (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=GBP&to=PHP&submit=Convert) | INR (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=INR&to=PHP&submit=Convert) | NZD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=NZD&to=PHP&submit=Convert) | USD (http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=USD&to=PHP&submit=Convert) |
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