UPDATE 1-Philippine rate easing cycle not over-cenbank governor

(Repeats to add in headline that this story is an update to an earlier one, adding more details)

MANILA May 19 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank is not ready to end its current rate easing cycle although there is adequate expansion in liquidity and credit and the economy is supported by remittance growth, governor Amando Tetangco said.

The Monetary Board will review policy rates on May 28, the same day first quarter economic growth data is announced.

Asked by reporters late on Monday if the central bank should continue easing, Tetangco said: "Yes, at this point."

He said however, that the central bank continued to monitor inflation trends, developments in economic activity locally and abroad and the monetary stance of central banks around the world.

The central bank has slashed rates by a total 1.5 percentage points since December, with its key overnight borrowing rate now at a 17-year low of 4.5 percent.

Tetangco said the central bank had the option to consider other policy moves such as tweaking bank reserve requirements.

"Before doing that, we should look at how liquidity is growing," Tetangco said on the option to change bank reserve requirements. "So far, we've seen that there's sufficient liquidity in the system ... and credit is still growing, it's still high."

Philippine money supply climbed 15.6 percent in March from a year earlier, latest central bank data showed, while banks' outstanding loans grew 18.9 percent in the same period with credit going to the manufacturing and services sectors.

The central bank had estimated growth of 13-14 percent in money supply this year.

Tetangco said if growth in bank lending slows to just over 10 percent, "that's still a good taste of credit expansion even with the prevailing economic condition."

High liquidity and credit growth, and a modest expansion of 2.7 percent in first quarter remittances from overseas Filipinos, should fuel consumption and support growth in the first quarter, he added.

The government expects the economy to grow 3.1-4.1 percent this year, lower than a previous 3.7-4.4 percent estimate and last year's actual growth of 4.6 percent.

(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Valerie Lee)