Page 104 - Bsp News Today

MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippine central bank said it can adjust foreign-exchange policies to help curb speculation, highlighting readiness to respond to inflation threats even as the peso has pared losses recently.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may deliver more but less aggressive interest rate hikes after delivering a cumulative 300-basis-point rate increase so far this year to anchor inflation expectations and temper downward pressures on the peso, economists said. In a report, DBS Bank economist Chua Han Teng said further tightening is expected from the still-hawkish BSP even after 300 basis points worth of rate hikes since May.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas still expects respectable economic and lending growth amid the series of aggressive rate hikes that saw the benchmark interest rate jump by 300 basis points to a 14-year high of five percent.

As expected, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas delivered an aggressive 75-basis-point rate hike, bringing the benchmark rate to a 14-year high of five percent to help insulate the Philippine economy from external headwinds and exchange rate fluctuations that could further entrench price pressures.

The local stock market closed in positive territory yesterday, returning to the 6,400 level ahead of the expected super-sized rate hike by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas later in the afternoon.

Credit card issuers are looking forward to a review of the cap imposed on credit card transactions, to be conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in January.

BSP maintains ceilings on credit card transactions

Dollar remittances climbed to a two-month high of $3.15 billion in September from $3.03 billion a year ago as Filipino expatriates send more money during the so-called “ber” months, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The Philippine central bank has joined the push for a regional payment connectivity among member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Economists are expecting the central bank to deliver another huge 75-basis-point hike on Thursday, as pre-announced by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe Medalla.