MANILA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine central bank on Thursday announced that it will keep the overnight interest rates unchanged even though the country faces growing inflation pressures.

    In a notice posted on its website, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said its stance of monetary policy continued to be appropriate for the present.

    The overnight borrowing rate is 5 percent and the overnight lending stands at 7 percent.

    "The factors driving inflation have come mostly from the supply side, and the use of monetary instruments against such influences has limited effect compared with direct supply-side intervention measures," the central bank said.

    Though the announcement came as expected, central bank Governor Amando Tetangco said that the rates might be adjusted once the inflation runs out of track.

    Rising costs of fuel and rice imports have pushed the country's inflation to a 21-month high of 6.4 percent in March. The government vowed to tame the inflation to 3-5 percent for the whole year but critics have said it would be a difficult goal to achieve if the central bank refused to raise rates at proper time.