Filipino Monetary Policy Unchanged After First Review of 2017
February 9, 2017
The Monetary Board at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas kept the overnight reverse repo at 3.0%, the overnight lending rate at 3.5%, and reserve requirements at 3.0%. A released statement continues to project in-target (2-4%) inflation this year and next. A recent rise reflects in headline inflation doesn’t reflect core items and, at 2.7%, remains in the lower half of the targeted band. Inflation expectations are consistent with the medium-term target. As before, officials say inflation risk relative to the baseline forecast is tilted upward but also note negative global growth uncertainties. The last changes in the overnight reverse repo rate were hikes of 25 basis points each in July and September of 2014, which reversed half of the 100-bp easing engineered earlier in 2002.
Copyright 2017, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
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