Latest news with #Remolona
The Star
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Philippines signals it won't intervene to cap peso strength
MANILA: Philippine central bank Governor Eli Remolona signalled authorities are unlikely to intervene to curb the strength in the peso, which has risen along with Asian peers this month. "This is a story of dollar weakness,' Remolona said in a mobile-phone message on Wednesday (May 7). "To intervene now would be to go against the tide.' The peso climbed to its strongest level since March 2024 this week, on growing optimism over trade deals. The stance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas stands in contrast to peers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, who have intervened in the market to slow the pace of appreciation in their currencies. - Bloomberg
The Star
28-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
BSP targets inflation via currency intervention
Volatility mitigation: People lounge around against the backdrop of a sunset at Manila Bay. Remolona says global factors, rather than domestic ones, are often the key drivers of volatility in emerging market currencies. — AFP MANILA: The Philippine central bank says its periodic intervention in currency markets aims to stem pressures if the peso was to weaken, but that it's not trying to manage capital flows into and out of the country. 'We don't like to do capital flow management – we stay away from that, and we continue to stay away from that,' Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Eli Remolona said in a panel discussion at the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington last Friday. 'We intervene when we see that the peso is swinging to a point where it becomes inflationary, and then we try to slow down that trend.' The unusually explicit comments about currency intervention come as export-oriented South-East Asia grapples with the fallout from US President Donald Trump's tariff policies. The Philippines has fared better than many other emerging markets, with the peso advancing about 2.8% against the dollar this year even as the central bank lowered borrowing costs. South-East Asia's biggest economy, Indonesia, has the region's worst-performing currency, with the rupiah declining 4.3% this year. Bank Indonesia has repeatedly intervened to smooth out volatility as capital flowed out of the country. Remolona said global factors, rather than domestic ones, are often the key drivers of volatility in emerging market currencies. 'The single biggest risk factor that distinguishes emerging markets from advanced economies is the exchange rate,' he said in the discussion that was moderated by Bloomberg Television's Lisa Abramowicz. 'What happens in the Philippines is the peso swings up and then it swings down, it appreciates and depreciates. And usually it's a dollar story: It's the dollar responding to geopolitical factors.' Investor concern about the Trump administration's policies has recently reduced the attractiveness of the dollar, alleviating some pressures on emerging market currencies. On April 10, when the BSP cut rates, Remolona told a briefing that 'like the rest of the world, we're looking at slower growth, but unlike the rest of the world, we're looking at lower inflation'. That allows the bank to have an accommodative monetary stance, he said at the time. The Philippine government has said it wants growth to accelerate to at least 6% this year from 5.6% in 2024, when multiple typhoons ravaged farm crops. In early April, the central bank lowered its forecast for risk-adjusted inflation to 2.3% this year from the 3.5% prediction it made in February. But in his last Friday panel, Remolona made it clear that the BSP stands ready to act if exchange rate moves were to fuel price gains. 'If you look at the experience of inflation targeting, there's a compelling reason to do that,' he said. 'You're using foreign-exchange (FX) intervention for purposes of managing inflation, and that's okay. 'That's perfectly okay.' — Bloomberg
Bloomberg
20-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Philippines to Resist Large Swings in Peso, BSP Governor Says
The Philippine central bank will resist big swings in the peso, particularly if it is weakening, Governor Eli Remolona said, as emerging markets from Indonesia to Turkey turned volatile this week. 'A big swing toward the direction of depreciation tends to be inflationary,' Remolona said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Haslinda Amin on Wednesday. 'So we worry about that, so we have to somehow resist that.'
Reuters
14-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Philippines held rates steady to hedge against uncertainty, cenbank governor says in CNBC interview
MANILA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank's decision to keep its key policy rate steady was its way of hedging against global uncertainties, its governor said on Friday. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas unexpectedly kept its key interest rate steady on Thursday, citing uncertainties over global trade policies, but said rate cuts of at least 50 basis points were still likely this year. Speaking to CNBC, Governor Eli Remolona said the central bank did not want to put itself in a situation where it would have to reverse itself. "The uncertainty itself about what's going on is a factor. And so we thought we needed more time to deepen our analysis," Remolona said. "We're hedging so that we don't find ourselves in a situation where we have to reverse ourselves. We want to stay on an easing trajectory," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on steel and aluminium imports this week, along with plans for reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose duties on U.S. goods, escalating the risk of a multi-front trade war.
Bloomberg
31-01-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Philippine Central Bank Chief Eyes Rate Cut After Tepid Growth
The Philippine central bank is considering to cut borrowing cost further at next month's meeting, Governor Eli Remolona said a day after the government reported that economic growth missed the target for a second straight year. 'It's on the table,' Remolona told reporters on Friday, when asked about a possible reduction in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' benchmark target rate at the Feb. 13 meeting, from the current 5.75%.
