BSP seen to keep interest rate steady at 6.25%

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to keep the country’s benchmark interest rate at its current level of 6.25 percent.

First Metro Investment Corp. Head of Research Cristina Ulang yesterday said that BSP governor Eli Remolona “seems comfortable” with the slight peso depreciation.

The peso closed at P56.515 on Aug. 16, after hitting a high of P56.91 intraday.

“Of course, the consensus is that there will be no hike, there’s going to be an extended pauseā€¦ and I think earlier messaging from the BSP governor, he was citing the currency as stable,” Ulang said.

She added: “He seems to be comfortable with the mild volatility in the currency and therefore no need to be alarmist in terms of key rate, hiking it again, it seems.”

The BSP is also likely to focus on the lower-than-anticipated second-quarter economic growth of 4.3 percent, Ulang said.

“I think growth will be at the forefront of the many considerations of the BSP, considering that inflation is already downtrend,” she said.

The BSP held its monetary policy-setting meeting yesterday. (ABS-CBN News)

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