Philippine central bank keeps key rate at 3pc, as expected

MANILA: The Philippine central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady on Thursday, as expected, citing strong domestic demand and with inflation on course to settle within this year and next year's target.

The central bank left the overnight borrowing rate unchanged at 3.0 percent, the level set by the monetary authority after it moved to an interest rate corridor (IRC) on June 3.

Before the corridor was launched, the key overnight borrowing rate was 4.0 percent. Policymakers fixed the corridor's width at 100 basis points, so the ceiling now is 3.5 percent and the floor 2.5 percent.

The policy stance has been steady since October 2014.