• The Philippine central bank will focus on inflationary expectations and not the Federal Reserve’s 25-basis point rate increase at its Feb. 16 monetary policy meeting, Governor Felipe Medalla said in a mobile-phone message to reporters.
• Inflation in the Southeast Asian nation accelerated to 8.1% from a year earlier in December, faster than the 8% pace the prior month and the quickest pace since November 2008. January inflation is expected at 7.6%, according to a median estimate of 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey ahead of the due on Feb. 7.
• Medalla, in an interview last month, said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will probably end its monetary tightening with one or two more rate increases this quarter that will bring the key rate to around 6%.