The Manila Times

Central Bank chief confident PH will overcome challenges

BY MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

The next governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Felipe Medalla, has pledged that the central bank will remain data-driven under his leadership.

“In the BSP, we are used to making decisions based on timely and relevant data,” he told The Manila Times.

“So as a first order of business, we will be evaluating relevant data from the BSP units to make sure that we continue what my predecessors have successfully implemented in ensuring price and financial stability and efficient functioning of our payments and settlements system.”

Medalla, who is also an outgoing BSP Monetary Board member, said that because the central bank is primarily reliant on data, any essential reform or change in policies, choices or targets will be governed by what the relevant data or indices indicate after a full examination and evaluation.

He will take over as governor of the Bangko Sentral on July 1 this year, and will serve until July 2023, the remaining term of outgoing BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno.

He said it is a privilege to serve the final year of Diokno’s term, although it will be difficult given the growth in public debt following the outbreak of the pandemic and the inflationary pressures created by the war in Ukraine.

“But I am quite confident that we will succeed since the BSP’s mandates are very clear and its officers and employees have the expertise, tools, and resources to achieve them,” Medalla said.

He was selected as a member of the Monetary Board in July 2011 and was reappointed for another term in July 2017. He has a Ph.D. in economics and has been an educator for more than four decades.

Medalla was a professor and dean of the University of the Philippines School of Economics. He served as the UP System’s vice president for Planning and Finance before joining the Monetary Board.

From 1998 to 2001, he served as Socioeconomic Planning secretary and director general of the National Economic and Development Authority. He was a member of the Presidential Task Force on Tax and Tariff Reforms in 1994.

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2022-06-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/282376928269634

The Manila Times