While the BSP has dismissed the inflation uptick as "transitory", some economists have ruled out further policy easing this year and have raised the possibility of a rate hike.
The consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.3% in January from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in a separate statement, compared with no change tipped by the Reuters poll and a 0.2% rise in December.
However, strong demand at a $38 billion 10-year auction overnight and comments from US Federal Reserve officials reiterating that monetary policy is going to stay supportive seem to have once more turned the blowtorch on the greenback.
That deficit is being funded by the biggest government borrowing program in Australian history, but so far demand for the debt has been more than ample.