MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine central bank will focus on inflation rather than the Federal Reserve’s recent policy action when it meets on Feb. 16 to review key interest rates, its governor said on Saturday.
“Next meeting will focus on inflationary expectations in PH, not the Fed’s 25 bps rate increase,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe Medalla told reporters in a phone message.
Philippine inflation was likely to be within a range of 7.5% to 8.3% in January, the central bank said on Tuesday, following the 8.1% rate in December, which was a 14-year high. The statistics agency will release inflation data on Feb. 7.
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Chris Reese)