KEY interest rates in the country were held at historic lows on Thursday, despite central bank officials seeing higher inflation rates this year and next.

Following the policymaking Monetary Board's eighth and last rate-setting meeting for 2021, overnight borrowing, lending, and deposit rates were kept at 2.00 percent, 1.50 percent, and 2.50 pBSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a briefing that that the current baseline estimates for 2021 and 2022 are marginally faster than the last assessment round due to a higher-than-expected inflation outturn in November.