Philippines Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos expected the nation's gross domestic product to expand in the first quarter of this year, especially with rebounding exports. Santos sees the monetary policy consistent at the current stage, as the central bank preferred keeping interest rates steady to support economic recovery.
Santos expects Philippines gross domestic product to grow between 2% and 3% this quarter, backed by the rebounding exports and the election related spending. Santos agreed on keeping borrowing costs unchanged at the current stage saying "this is a signal to the market that we don't sacrifice economic growth".
Regarding inflation, it appeared to be accelerating in February as we witnessed consumer prices climbing 0.4% last month following an incline by 0.2%. On the yearly record, consumer prices rose 4.2% from 4.3%.
Raw materials prices rose 80% from a year earlier, while the El Nino dry weather destroyed corps leading to a lower supply of food that was why food and drinks prices inclined 3.8% last month. All of this signal accelerating inflation, adding pressures on monetary policy makers to adjust their monetary policy to control the increasing prices.
Moreover, Philippines central bank kept interest rates at 4.0% for five straight meetings to support the weakened economy, after the benchmark interest rates was lowered by 200 basis points between January and July of last year. The bank preferred to keep rates unchanged to give more time for the economy to benefit from low borrowing costs, but the accelerating inflationary pressures may force policy makers to raise interest rates next meeting.
Philippines economy expanded 1.8% in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest in a year, as the monetary policy besides government spending managed to support the economy, keeping in mind that the government allocated 330 billion pesos to be spent on stimulating recovery and providing jobs to control unemployment.
Santos expects Philippines gross domestic product to grow between 2% and 3% this quarter, backed by the rebounding exports and the election related spending. Santos agreed on keeping borrowing costs unchanged at the current stage saying "this is a signal to the market that we don't sacrifice economic growth".
Regarding inflation, it appeared to be accelerating in February as we witnessed consumer prices climbing 0.4% last month following an incline by 0.2%. On the yearly record, consumer prices rose 4.2% from 4.3%.
Raw materials prices rose 80% from a year earlier, while the El Nino dry weather destroyed corps leading to a lower supply of food that was why food and drinks prices inclined 3.8% last month. All of this signal accelerating inflation, adding pressures on monetary policy makers to adjust their monetary policy to control the increasing prices.
Moreover, Philippines central bank kept interest rates at 4.0% for five straight meetings to support the weakened economy, after the benchmark interest rates was lowered by 200 basis points between January and July of last year. The bank preferred to keep rates unchanged to give more time for the economy to benefit from low borrowing costs, but the accelerating inflationary pressures may force policy makers to raise interest rates next meeting.
Philippines economy expanded 1.8% in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest in a year, as the monetary policy besides government spending managed to support the economy, keeping in mind that the government allocated 330 billion pesos to be spent on stimulating recovery and providing jobs to control unemployment.
