The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday, Nov. 5, that beginning this month, Monetary Board policy decisions will be announced at 3PM (Philippine Standard Time) instead of 4PM as practiced for decades.
“The new schedule aligns the BSP’s practices with other central banks, which typically announce their monetary policy decisions during market trading hours,” the BSP said.
The market close for the Philippine Stock Exchange is 3:30PM from a pre-open time of 9AM. Foreign exchange trading is open 24 hours but the Bankers Association of the Philippines will post a daily spot closing for the peso vis-Ã -vis the US dollar at 4PM.
The seven-member Monetary Board, chaired by BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno, will hold its seventh monetary policy meeting on Nov. 18. This will be the second to the last policy meeting for 2021. The last policy decision for this year will be announced on Dec. 16.
Schedules of monetary policy meetings are based on the US Federal Open Market Committee meetings and release dates of the Phillippine Statistics Authority’s national income accounts and inflation, as well as the BSP’s Department of Economic Statistics data on domestic liquidity.
In a commentary Friday, Nov. 5, ING Bank economist Nicholas Mapa said it is a given that the BSP will not be adjusting the policy rate in two weeks’ time as often repeated by BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno in his statements and press briefings.
“BSP (is still) expected to hold going into 2022,” said Mapa. “Despite elevated inflation, BSP continues to push back on rate hike calls, citing the need to support the economic recovery.”
Mapa said Diokno will continue to “look past supply side-induced price spikes” and will rely on government intervention such as pork importation or fuel subsidies to manage prices.
“We expect BSP to maintain its current policy setting for the balance of 2021 and we retain our expectation for a possible rate adjustment from monetary authorities in the second quarter 2022,” said Mapa.
Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2021/11/05/bsp-sets-new-time-for-monetary-policy-announcements/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bsp-sets-new-time-for-monetary-policy-announcements)
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