The Philippines’ central bank (BSP) unexpectedly left its overnight rate at 4.5% today, but it did tighten policy settings by hiking its reserve-requirement ratio. Growth in 2011-12 looks set to be above levels seen over the past decade, while core inflation is likely to trend upwards. The upshot is that we are sticking with our long-held view that the policy rate will reach 5.0% by end-2011.