MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippine central bank will likely slow the pace of interest-rate increases on Thursday (March 23), tracking the Federal Reserve that moved by a quarter-point to tame inflation which it sees as a greater risk than a turmoil in the banking system.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will probably raise the overnight reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%, according to all but one of 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey conducted before the Fed’s decision. That will take the cumulative increases to 425 basis points since May, which included four half-point moves and two 75 basis-point actions.
