BSP hikes key rates by 25 basis points
MONETARY authorities on Wednesday raised key interest rates further to contain rising inflation.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy-setting Monetary Board raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, bringing the BSP’s overnight borrowing, lending, and deposit rates to 3.50 percent, 4.00 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively.
The Monetary Board, however, lowered its inflation forecasts for 2018 and 2019 to 4.5 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, from 4.6 percent and 3.4 percent previously.
The latest rate increase comes in the wake of a 25-basis point upward adjustment on May 20 — the central bank’s first in over three years — which is meant to address rising inflation.
Downward “operational adjustments” were ordered in May 2016 ahead of a shift to the interest rate corridor system. MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO
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