Philippines open to big hikes to aid peso: New central bank chief

Felipe Medalla, governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), during an interview in Manila, the Philippines, on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. The Philippines will likely follow its interest-rate increase last month with at least two more hikes to curb inflation, according to the central bank’s incoming governor. Photographer: Geric Cruz/Bloomberg

MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippines central bank won’t shy away from larger interest-rate increases to prevent a steep peso fall from further fanning inflation, its incoming governor Felipe Medalla (pic) said.

"If we see that the exchange rate is overshooting too much, and that selling foreign exchange will not make the problem go away, we would clearly consider may be increasing policy rates by more than our planned 25 basis points,” he said in a virtual briefing with the international media on Wednesday.