Singapore and the Philippines’ central banks have unveiled a surprise tightening of monetary policy in the latest sign of heightened inflation concerns in the Asia Pacific.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas lifted its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points in an unscheduled rate hike on Thursday, as the central bank signaled it was ready to take further action to tackle rising inflation.
BSP Governor Felipe Medalla says that the central bank stood ready to take further necessary actions to steer inflation towards a target-consistent path over the medium term.