Local currency
• Previous week: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) research officer Nicholas Antonio Mapa said in the middle of the week that the peso continued to move higher as a “risk-off” sentiment dominates the market. The local currency ended the week at 47.66 to a dollar, with a total traded volume on Friday at $561.5 million.
• Week ahead: Mapa said the peso will remain broadly within range, as it is to track Asian currency movements in the week ahead. “Peso should take its cue from regional developments, with the currency pair possibly pressured higher ahead of US data. Oil will also be a driver for regional currencies and the peso, as well,” Mapa said.
Monetary-policy meeting
February 11
• Previous meeting: As widely expected by local markets, the Bangko Sentral kept all its policy rates unchanged, despite the dawn of the normalization of interest rates in the United States—as the Monetary Board (MB) opts to adopt a wait-and-see stance on evolving matters on the global economy. In its meeting last December 17, the MB decided to keep the key policy rates at 4 percent for the overnight borrowing, or reverse repurchase facility (RRP), and 6 percent for the overnight lending, or repurchase facility (RP). The interest rates on term RRPs, RPs and special deposit accounts were also kept steady and the reserve requirement ratios were also unchanged.
• Upcoming meeting: The central bank is expected to keep the rates steady in its next policy meeting, as growth continues to be strong and as the Federal Reserve continues to lean toward a wait-and-see stance, eliminating concerns from the market that the US might increase its rates faster than expected for the year. In a text message sent to reporters recently, central bank Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said they continue to “see no need to adjust policy settings at the moment.”