The Philippines: BSP to keep rates steady

  • BENCHMARK interest rates are likely to remain steady even as inflation continues to ease as the central bank wants to be ready in case of a worse fallout from the coronavirus crisis, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.
  • “The…cuts in the interest rates is meant to help the banks go through this crisis, and in turn, they can help their borrowers — the individuals and the firms — and so we’ll look at the need for it,” Mr. Diokno said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
  • “But at the moment, I think it is better that we maybe hold on to where we are right now so that [when] worst comes to worst, we have additional bullets. I’m not saying we’re not gonna cut this year or maybe next policy meeting, but we are closely looking at the data,” he said.
  • The central bank chief said while inflation continues to ease, some commodity prices have started to see an uptick, including fuel and rice.
  • He added that the BSP has room to cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) if there is a need for additional liquidity.

External Link : https://www.bworldonline.com/bsp-to-keep-rates-steady-on-risks/

External Link : https://www.bworldonline.com/bsp-to-gradually-normalize-monetary-operations/

9-Jun-2020