THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to end its accommodative monetary policy setting this month by raising interest rates for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, foreign and local observers said.

Analysts from Capital Economics, ANZ Research, Moody's Analytics and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) all attributed their views for the May 19 rate-setting meeting of the central bank's Monetary Board to the Philippine economy's faster-than-expected 8.3-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first three months of the year, as well as rising inflation rates.