BSP takes cue from US moves

Monetary settings in the United States remain among the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) top concerns as it carefully adjusts its own policies to fight rising consumer prices, stabilize markets and ensure economic growth.

The US Federal Reserve last week bared an October deadline for the end of its quantitative easing program as the world’s largest economy shows more signs of recovery following the 2008 financial crisis.

Uncertainty over the US Fed’s policy moves has led to turbulence in financial markets that has led to the repatriation of money to safer havens like the United States.

Emerging market currencies like the peso have weakened, and interest rates have risen.

With a clearer timeline now set, calm is expected to set in for financial markets, but BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. noted that policymakers needed to maintain caution.

“It’s important to understand that it would not be prudent to put the Fed program on a pre-set course,” Tetangco told reporters in an e-mail at the weekend. “There are after all too many moving parts in the decision tree,” he said.

Tetangco said the end to the US Fed’s monthly bond-buying program, which sent interest rates to record lows, would continue to have implications on global money flows.

A stronger American economy, meanwhile, may mean a boon for emerging markets like the Philippines with strong trading ties with the US.

“We have a full array of tools at our disposal. We have the monetary policy space to help guide inflation expectations so that our inflation target is not at risk,” Tetangco said.