1997 Asian Financial Crisis - Philippines

Philippines

The Philippine central bank raised interest rates by 1.75 percentage points in May 1997 and again by 2 points on 19 June. Thailand triggered the crisis on 2 July and on 3 July, the Philippine Central Bank intervened to defend the peso, raising the overnight rate from 15% to 32% at the onset of the Asian crisis in mid-July 1997. The peso dropped from 26 pesos per dollar at the start of the crisis to 38 pesos in mid-1999 to 54 pesos as in early August, 2001.

The Philippine GDP contracted by 0.6% during the worst part of the crisis, but grew by 3% by 2001, despite scandals of the administration of Joseph Estrada in 2001, most notably the "jueteng" scandal, causing the PSE Composite Index, the main index of the Philippine Stock Exchange, to fall to 1000 points from a high of 3000 points in 1997. The peso's value declined to about 55 pesos to the US dollar. Later that year, Estrada was on the verge of impeachment but his allies in the senate voted against continuing the proceedings.

This led to popular protests culminating in the "EDSA II Revolution", which effected his resignation and elevated Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the presidency. Arroyo lessened the crisis in the country. The Philippine peso rose to about 50 pesos by the year's end and traded at around 41 pesos to a dollar in late 2007. The stock market also reached an all time high in 2007 and the economy was growing by more than 7 percent, its highest in nearly two decades.