By Josine Estuye
MANILA, (PNA) -– Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines’s monetary authority, said Thursday it will maintain key policy rates.
In a press briefing, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco said the Monetary Board (MB) decided to keep the current policy,after assessing that the country’s inflation environment remains benign.
“Latest baseline forecasts indicate that the future inflation path remains in line with the target range,” Tetangco stated.
The BSP governor said the board also expects that the inflation rate will continue to be manageable at an average of 2.8 percent this year.
“While global economic conditions remain challenging, prospects for domestic activity remain robust, supported by buoyant demand and favorable consumer and business sentiment,” he said.
“With the bulk of lending going to the productive sectors of the economy, the improvement in the economy’s absorptive capacity is expected to be sustained, helping to moderate price pressures,” he explained.
After BSP’s decision, key policy rates remain at 3.5 percent for the overnight borrowing or reverse repurchase, while the overnight lending purchase or repurchase facility remains unchanged at 5.50 percent.
Interests and reserve requirement ratios for these terms also are put on hold.
This is the fourth consecutive meeting that MB has decided to keep the key policy rates unchanged.
Several market players have expected this “no change” decision from the board earlier this week.