(Bloomberg) -- The Philippine central bank’s key interest rate is likely to be kept at the current level at the next policy meeting this month amid slowing inflation, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.

“We have reached the highest,” Diokno, who is part of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policy-setting Monetary Board, told reporters on Monday, referring to the policy rate. “Given the decline in inflation, there’s no justification for higher interest rates.”

The central bank raised its benchmark rate to a fresh 16-year high of 6.5% in an out-of-cycle move on Oct. 26 and signaled that it’s ready to deliver “follow-through policy action” if necessary to bring inflation back to its 2%-4% target.

BSP Governor Eli Remolona said the day after that the central bank may either stand pat or increase its key rate by 25 basis points at its policy meeting on Nov. 16 depending on upcoming data. Last week, central bank estimates showed headline inflation for October - due out on Tuesday - likely slowed to within a range of 5.1% to 5.9% compared with 6.1% in September.

There’s a 60-40 chance of another policy rate hike, said Robert Dan Roces, chief economist at Security Bank Corp. in Manila. Citing Remolona’s previous remark that the absolute threshold for the key rate is at 6.8%, Roces said it can rise by another 25 basis points, but added that a strengthening peso lessens the pressure to hike.

Diokno said he also expects inflation to have slowed last month and that third-quarter economic growth is likely faster than the 4.3% pace in April-June. Increased spending on infrastructure during the past quarter should have also supported faster growth, he said, after Monday’s listing of the Philippines’ $1.26 billion retail dollar bond sold last month.

The finance chief reiterated that the lower end of the government’s 6%-7% growth goal remains attainable with lower inflation expected to boost consumption along with the local village and youth council elections held on Oct. 30. The government will release third-quarter gross domestic product data on Thursday.

(Adds comments from economist in fifth paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected a word in the quote in second paragraph.)

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