Rising United States (US) interest rates, tanking emerging market currencies and a bitter US-China trade spat could push the world towards its next financial crisis but there is still time to avert disaster, global finance chiefs have said.The world economy is still growing but faces an "unprecedented" combination of threats, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned at an annual meeting with the World Bank in Bali this week.Among them is growing protectionism championed by th

The question facing policy makers in the Philippines is not whether to raise interest rates for a third time in a row, but by how much.A booming economy, surging inflation and pressure on the currency are setting the stage for a 50 basis-point increase in the benchmark rate to four percent on Thursday, according to 17 economists surveyed.

Malaysia’s ringgit was sheltered from the worst of last month’s emerging-market selloff, thanks to higher oil prices.

Philippine central bank Governor Nestor Espenilla laid out the case for another interest rate increase, citing broadening price pressures, tighter United States (US) monetary policy and a currency slump.While Espenilla stopped short of saying that a rate hike is on the cards on Wednesday, he said in an interview that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) aims to anchor inflation back to its target next year.

Thailand is becoming an oasis of monetary policy stability as other emerging markets scramble to raise interest rates.The country’s Finance Ministry anticipates that borrowing costs will be left at 1.5 percent this year, said Kulaya Tantitemit, a spokeswoman and an inspector general at the ministry. While an increase is possible in 2019, it won’t be steep, she said.“It wouldn’t be aggressive,” Kulaya said in an interview Wednesday, referring to a potential tightening next year.

Indonesia’s new central bank chief joined his counterpart in India in calling on the Federal Reserve (Fed) to be more mindful of the global repercussions of policy tightening amid a rout in emerging markets.In his first interview with international media since he took office two weeks ago, Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said the pace of the Fed’s balance sheet reduction was a key issue for central bankers across emerging markets.

Indonesia’s central bank signaled the end of monetary policy easing as it focuses on inflation risks, such as rising food and oil costs.After keeping the benchmark interest rate at 4.25 percent – as forecast by all 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg – Assistant Governor Dody Budi Waluyo indicated there’s limited room for rate cuts after eight reductions in the past two years.“The monetary stance remains neutral,” he said. “We will bring inflation to meet the target of 3.5 percent.