Moody’s forecasts steady policy rate for BSP
Moody’s Analytics is eyeing steady policy rates for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) during its Monetary Board (MB) rate-setting meeting last Thursday.
In its newly-released Asia Pacific economic preview, the financial services firm said that its no rate change forecasts for the BSP are the same as their expectations of the Bank of Japan (BOC) and the Bank of Indonesia.
Citing BSP’s moves to slash policy rates and cut its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by a total of 200 basis points in 2020, Moody’s Analytics is positive that these measures will ensure “that financial institutions will have additional liquidity to be extended to borrowers.”
Local monetary authorities are committing to keeping BSP’s policy stance “accommodative” to support economic recovery amid the pandemic.
However, Moody’s Analytics report said that both “the Philippines and Indonesia continue to battle domestic infection waves that have disrupted their respective recoveries.”
The Philippines’ economy reported an 11.8% expansion in the second quarter of 2021, ending a five-quarter slump that started on last year’s Q1.
