Local monetary authorities may keep the policy rates for the rest of the year and consider moving in sync with the US Federal Reserve if the latter cuts interest rates in the middle of 2024, an official of Sun Life Investment Management and Trust Corp. (SLIMTC) said Tuesday.
SLIMTC head of equities and global funds Michael Adrian Vergara said in an online briefing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas tended to move in line with the Fed.
“It is really a matter of them managing the peso. It is a matter of them managing liquidity within our market. So if we think that the Fed would potentially cut, I think consensus is looking at the middle of next year,” Vergara said.
The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of BSP, kept the overnight borrowing rate of 6.25 percent on Aug. 27 for the third time this year amid the continued slowdown in inflation since the peak of 8.7 percent in January 2023.
The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also retained at 5.75 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively.