Philippines central bank raises interest rates by 25 bps
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) is seen at their main building in Manila, Philippines March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
MANILA : The Philippines central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent on Thursday.
The move, which was predicted by all but one of 24 economists in a Reuters poll, brought to 425 basis points the total hikes the central bank has delivered since May.
The central bank revised down its forecasts for inflation this year and next and reiterated it was prepared to act if needed to slow the pace of consumer price increases to within its 2 per cent-4 per cent comfort range.
After annual inflation slightly eased to 8.6 per cent in February, the central bank now expects inflation to average 6.0 per cent in 2023 and 2.9 per cent in 2024, compared with 6.1 per cent and 3.1 per cent predicted previously.
