What has happened to the Pound? It seems to be falling on a daily basis these days. In reality it looks like the fall started around 10 years ago. Is it because the Philippine economy has been growing at around 7% per anum in recent years or is it something more fundamental,after all,the US dollar/PHP has steadied and has even bounced a little lately. Not so the UKBP/$ rate. How are expats here on a fixed income from the UK managing on an ever dwindling budget due to exchange rates? You must be feeling the pinch. How low can it go? I would imagine that its a horrible situation for Filipino nurses and other OFW`s based in the UK along with Filipino spouses that feel they need to help support their families in the R.P. Christmas is well and truly over. The pound should picking up by now. Interested in your thoughts.
It'll take a while for rates to climb again if indeed they do, last year was a nice exception to the downward trend, I do think most of this is the influx of cash over Christmas but it also reflects the weakness of the Euro and by association the pound due to concerns about Europe being our largest trading partner and Europe still being a basket case. Historically, back in the 80's and 90's, the peso was a lot stronger than it currently is, the really big slump came about during the Asian crises at the end of the millennium, 2005 was the peak of that when we could get 106 peso to the pound but it was down at 65 peso in the year 2000 and gradually fell to 106 over the next five years. I've said for a long time that it could go to 50 or less, would not surprise me to be honest but one can only hope that it goes the other way, Methersgate believes it is cyclical and that something will screw the Philippine economy sooner or later, not that I wish that on them. The problem for most ex-pats is going to be fixed taxable UK investments like pension annuities which they can't move, the recent changes in pension legislation will help future pensioners in that it will be possible to move a little bit more of their pension, lump sum + 1 year's personal tax allowance, in one go at the start of retirement, of course if they expected to pay tax anyway they could just move lump sum + 1 year at lower rate tax band. Those who are relying on UK property income however are going to be hit hard by the proposed changes designed to remove the personal allowance from ex-pats who are already non resident.
In other news, the Euro is sky high against the pound - €1.30 today, the highest its been for many years, so for those of us in the UK, holidays in the eurozone are getting cheaper, so its not all doom and gloom with the pound.
"Historically, back in the 80's and 90's, the peso was a lot stronger than it currently is, the really big slump came about during the Asian crises at the end of the millennium, 2005 was the peak of that when we could get 106 peso to the pound but it was down at 65 peso in the year 2000 and gradually fell to 106 over the next five years. " Where is the quote button? I can remember quite well changing pounds here for the first time at 11.50P.. The thing is though,inflation seemed steady and everything was dirt cheap.. 11.50 bought far more than 67.00 does today,thats for sure. A cold SMB was roughly 1.00 from memory or 24/25 per case.. The best rate I had was 108.50 but I can still remember some people holding on for 110.00! Greedy. I would imagine that if the UK Pound continues to drop long term,we will see fewer and fewer Brit retirees here as the best value for pounds will be in the UK of course.. I cant see the economy collapsing here anytime soon as GDP figures seem to be backed up by solid industries such as IT services and electronic assembly.. Prices in the supermarkets have increased a lot since our arrival 8/9 years ago and yet the huge car parks here are literally packed with mainly brand new cars.. Its a battle to get a parking bay here on any day of the week and at weekends not always easy to find space in a fast food restaurant. I can only put this down to the 24 Billion $`s in OFW cash remittances from countries all over the world being spent throughout the year. Blowout!
Just click reply then edit the automatic quote. IT is still going strong over there but it is amazing how far behind they are in terms of local use of IT, most web sites for example like local banks are absolute crap. I would say that it is probably cheaper to retire in the UK already if you don't have to worry about accommodation costs in the UK. Between the discount supermarkets and the discount clothes shops and our low cost electronics (larger market lower margins) superior communications and the discount booze shops etc. it is probably easy enough to get close to living at a level similar to what you could have in the Phils. It's the cost of housing here that is the killer, that and the freezing cold winters permanent rain and ridiculously brief summers. Me I would still rather be over there, but like you I have seen the inflation over there over the last 10 years and that shows little sign of abating which will ultimately drive the cost of living well above the UK, particularly so given that local earnings are still pitiful, hard to see how most normal Filipino's actually manage to survive the inflation.
The locals here in the province all seem very well fed.. No evidence of malnutrition etc in our area. Here in the Visayas you can find Papaya trees full of fruit that ripen on the tree`s and often left for the birds to eat. You would not see that in Luzon. They seem to prefer food like Camote tuber , corn and shell fish here which obviously grows in abundance. They also don't seem to cook with coconut milk as they do in many Luzon areas and just harvest coconuts for copra income. You see them collecting firewood daily so have no need to pay for cooking gas or electricity to cook their stuff. I think there is so much poverty and malnutrition in Manila simply because millions have chosen to converge there in a concrete jungle where very little grows.. There,inflation effects them greatly and why they have to invent new ways to salvage restaurant and fast food waste such as Pagpag for 10.00 Pesos per serving. Filipino`s are very resourceful and know how to survive in their own country one way or another.. The 24 Billion $$`s a year sent from overseas is just a bonus and their "blow out,happy happy" cash!! Foreigners though,definitely seem to be the first to notice how inflation and exchange rates affect their lives here,especially the ones that live in big cities like Cebu and Manila in their gated sub divisions and their indispensable shopping malls with an imported food isle. Have you seen the price of HP sauce here these days!! 1 GBP =P67.12
Interesting and I think you are likely right about the NCR. And about the supermarkets, I guess that is true for a lot of foreigners although me I've never once bought anything from the international aisle
Running short of Colman's mustard and Heinz salad cream by any chance...??? If you had said, I would have asked Halo Halo to fetch some....
Christmas box a bit late this year from the UK..Should be getting it any day now.. 3 big bottles of Heinz salad cream left from the last one!
Yep courtesy of Mr Mario Draghi injecting money into the EU economy and dragging the pound down with the euro.
Pound hits seven-year high against euro after ECB action http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30948473 While crashing everywhere else, finished the week at 66.096
1.00 GBP=66.0936 PHP Hopefully the Pound will quickly find a support line and steady. This does not look good.
It certainly makes it expensive if you're trying to build a house. We've lost 10php /£ since we started
We started to build our house in 2003, so the rate at the time was about £1= P110. But most of the work and including buying the lot, was during early 2003 to 2007. So not too bad, almost finished now. Could do with the Pound getting stronger.
Its going to hit us but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm about £11000 in at the moment and hoping to complete (ish) for maybe another £8000. Want to try to get it done before the next typhoon season starts.
