our saging... err, sagging economy

our saging economy?...



today in the news, philipine peso now stands at Php 47.69 against USD 1. the lowest this year. this is most disappointing considering it went as high as 40.36 in february. even more dismaying is the fact that it was one of only two of the best performing currencies last year. the other being the renminbi.

is the peso having a case of a one hit wonder? one thing is for sure, i really can't help but wonder.
a currency's falling can't really be that bad. exporters earn more because they get greater conversions for each dollar they earn. this also works for the dollar remittances of overseas workers into the country, but one must understand that a strong currency reflects a stronger economy. or is it only the way i understand it? 'coz it has always been like this eversince. we have a robust economy when our peso rises. take the 1997 asian financial crisis, before that happened, we had a surge in economic activities and our economy was dubbed as the "tiger economy"; and we had our peso at around 25-26 against the dollar. when we got hit by the 1997 financial disater. the peso started to slide down.it eventually hit its lowest at 56.44 against the dollar in march, 2004.

last year, we had the best peso after a long while, and, if you believe what our government agencies say, our economy did well regardless it was felt by most of filipinos or not . so, i guess, that's one way you can determine if the country's economy is thriving. if the peso is up, then probably the economy is "doing well".

one of the reasons why the philippine peso was strong last year, i believe, was because of the enactment of the EVAT. it raised government revenues, hence, a lot of investors invested because of the positive outlook in the economy. the question now is... should we pass another EVAT law in order to prop up the peso? would it be proper?
of course it wouldn't be right. would it?

there is a story about a family that eats boiled sab-ah (banana) in every meal as they can't afford rice. one day, when the children ask the mother for a different meal when the family earned a little more than they used to, the mother promptly obliged. so everyone looked forward to their next meal. when dinner came, everyone eagerly awaited the mother's cooking. when dinner was served, everyone was dismayed for instead of boiled bananas, they were having banana cake for dinner. a little upscale, but still bananas...

readers are free to derive any significant connection from the story to the previous subject of national economy?
(if there's any at all. haha! )