The Philippine peso fell after the central bank’s incoming governor Felipe Medalla said that he aims to raise interest rates at a gradual pace beyond August, downplaying the need for larger interest rate hikes to curb inflation. The peso declined more than 0.6% after Medalla’s remark. The peso is down more than 3% this month, after breaching 52.50 per USD earlier in June, to drop below 54 per USD for the first time since October 2018. Meanwhile, the central bank signaled a 25bps interest rate increase at both its next monetary policy meeting on Thursday and the following policy meeting in August.