THE government’s infrastructure push in the second half of 2019 could lead to the peso closing weaker against the dollar by yearend, according to HSBC Private Banking.

“We expect USD-PHP (US dollar-Philippine peso) to reach 54.0 by end-2019, given the re-widening of the current account deficit,” HSBC Private Banking Managing Director Chuek Wan Fan told reporters in a roundtable in Taguig City on Tuesday.