The Philippine central bank maintained its key interest rates for the ninth consecutive rate-setting session on Thursday.
The Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas decided to leave the overnight borrowing or reverse repurchase facility at 4 percent and the overnight lending or repurchase facility at 6.00 percent.
The bank also left the reserve requirement ratios unchanged.
Inflation is expected to settle below the 2-4 percent this year. The outlook for this year was reduced to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent and trimmed its 2016 forecast to 2.3 percent from 2.6 percent.
Gareth Leather, an economist at Capital Economics said inflation should accelerate over the coming months as the impact of the fall in oil prices drops out of the annual comparison. He expects rates to remain unchanged at 4.00 percent at least until the end of next year.
The monetary board observed that domestic demand conditions have stayed firm, as business and consumer sentiment continue to be buoyant and domestic liquidity remains adequate.
BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said growth could pick up next year to 7-8 percent and in 2017.
Policymakers assessed that the benign inflation environment and the economy’s underlying growth momentum provide adequate room to maintain monetary policy settings.
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