Remolona signals cautious easing

The Monetary Board remains inclined toward gradual policy easing as it evaluates the economy’s sharper-than-expected slowdown in the third quarter, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

- By KEISHA TA-ASAN

Remolona

BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said on the sidelines of the BSP’s Financial Education Stakeholders’ Congress that the central bank is determining whether the country’s growth slowdown reflects soft domestic demand or supply-side issues such as typhoon impacts.

“We have to figure out whether the slowdown is from the demand side or the supply side. If it’s from the supply side, there’s nothing we can do,” he told reporters. “They usually come together, so we need to determine how much of it is demand.”

The Philippine economy grew by four percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace in four years. This was a marked decline from the previous quarter’s 5.5 percent and the 5.2 percent posted a year earlier.