The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) communicated another impending increase in interest rates in February, with an assurance that the hike won’t be as huge as it was in the past year.
BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said a 25 or 50-basis point increase can be expected from the Monetary Board’s February 16 meeting, their first for 2023.
“The pressure on us to match US increases will be much lower,” he told reporters on Tuesday (January 10). “The need for us doing large adjustments is no longer there.”
The BSP increased interest rates by 3.5% in 2022 as it sought to reel in inflation, which hit a 14-year high of 8.1% in December. Rate hikes of the central bank pull up bank loan rates in the market, making the cost of borrowing more expensive.
