Philippine central bank to delay further cut in banks’ reserve ratio

Aug 19 (Reuters) – The Philippine central bank will postpone a plan to further reduce banks’ reserve requirement ratio by the end of the year, Governor Felipe Medalla told Bloomberg News on Friday.

“We don’t want to confuse the market” as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is still in a tightening cycle, Bloomberg quoted Medalla as saying.

BSP raised its benchmark interest rates by half a percentage point on Thursday, and kept the door open for further hikes to bring inflation back within its target range.

(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)