(Manila Times) MONETARY authorities will have to continue raising interest rates after inflation spiked to a higher-than-expected 8.7 percent in January, analysts said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policymaking Monetary Board may have to deliver another 50-basis-point (bps) increase next week instead of the 25 bps initially expected, two economists added.
This would raise the policy rate to 6.0 percent, from 5.5 percent currently, much earlier than previously forecast.
The consensus among analysts was that consumer price growth would slow to 7.6 percent, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) last week said inflation could have either dropped to 7.5 percent or picked up to no more than 8.3 percent.
The January result was the highest in a little over 14 years, or since November 2008’s 9.1 percent. It topped last December’s 2022 peak of 8.1 percent and was significantly higher than the 3.0 percent posted a year earlier… Read More
