The unprecedented nature of the crisis called for an equally unprecedented response, and the entire government, including the BSP, acted promptly and decisively. We at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas moved fast to prevent the initial onslaught of the pandemic from damaging the economic and financial system.
We started our policy cut as early as February 2020—before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and before the country had its first local virus transmission. Succeeding cuts, to date, resulted in a cumulative reduction of 200 basis points, or from four percent to a record low of two percent.