00:00A wait-and-see approach is the latest policy adopted by the Banco Central on interest rates
00:05on overnight bank deposits in lending facilities are to remain in the 6% and 7% threshold.
00:12Meanwhile, the Philippine Central Bank is not changing its reverse repurchase rates pegged at
00:176.5%. Our Denise Osorio fills us in with more. The Banco Central ng Pilipinas Monetary Board
00:27on Thursday agreed to keep the BSP's reverse repurchase rate at 6.5% while the interest
00:33rate of overnight deposits and lending facilities stays at 6% and 7% respectively. The BSP added
00:40the inflation forecast remains positive due to increase in transportation, food, electricity,
00:46and oil prices. Risk-adjusted inflation prediction for the year 2024 improved from 4% to 3.8%.
00:54According to BSP Governor Eli Remolano Jr., this is due to rise inflation and improvement given
01:00its positive base effects on other inflation factors. 3.8% was better than expected and
01:06actually it's better than it looks because that included some positive base effects.
01:16So it's actually better than it looks. And then there were other factors that
01:24were good news in terms of inflation. For the year 2025, the inflation prediction
01:30is also seen to improve from 3.7% to 3.5%. The BSP emphasized on the positive domestic
01:37output come midterm as to remain substantially unchanged based on gross domestic product
01:42statistics. The BSP has also indicated its strong support for the non-monetary actions
01:47by the administration to mitigate the increase in food prices and additional effects of other impacts.
02:13The Banco Central stressed it is ready to adjust its monetary policy if need be
02:18to maintain price stability of primary commodities.
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