Meanwhile, slower global economic growth due to the escalation of protectionist policies in advanced economies as well as geopolitical tensions continue to be the main downside risks to inflation. Equally important, inflation expectations – based on forecast surveys of private sector analysts – have remained manageable and well within the government’s 2-4 % target range.
Results of the BSP’s survey of private sector economists for November 2019 showed unchanged mean inflation forecasts for 2019 to 2021. Last year, the Monetary Board (MB) cut the BSP’s policy interest rate by a total of 75 bps and the reserve requirement ratio by a total of 400 bps.