(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte administered the oath of office of newly installed Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Benjamin Diokno who will serve the remainder of the late Nestor Espenilla’s six-year term which ends in July 2023.
Diokno was accompanied by his wife, Jo Ann Camacho, and son, Antonin Camacho during his oath-taking on Wednesday, March 6, in Malacanang.
Diokno, who was previously Duterte’s budget and management chief, has extensive experience in the government managing the economy.
He had also served as the budget chief of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. He was an undersecretary at the same department from 1986-1991 under the late former President Corazon C. Aquino.
A professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Diokno holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration (1968) and Masters’ Degrees in Public Administration (1970) and Economics (1974) also from U.P.
Diokno earned his Master of Arts in Political Economy (1976) from the Johns Hopkins University in the US and had completed a Ph.D. in Economics (1981) from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in Syracuse University in the US.
-Reduction of RRR to continue because of slowed down inflation –
Meanwhile, Diokno said that he is considering expanding the reduction in the reserve requirement ratio or RRR which was a policy of the late BSP governor Espenilla.
The BSP believes that the slashing of the RRR had contributed to the slowing of the country’s inflation this year.
Inflation could even fall to two percent, which is the low end of the economic managers’ target range, as early as next quarter, according to Diokno.
Last February, inflation slowed down to 3.8 percent from January’s 4.4 percent.
“As you can see, inflation last month was 3.8%. It breached all the consensus. It shows a declining pattern,” Diokno said.
“Timing is important. We saw that the deceleration of inflation looks good, so maybe we will need two (percentage) points reduction in March and April,” he said on Wednesday before his scheduled meeting with the Monetary Board on Thursday.
-BSP welcomes Diokno’s appointment-
The BSP welcomed Diokno’s appointment,
In a statement issued Wednesday, the BSP said it “fully supports” the appointment” of Diokno as Governor and Chairman of the Monetary Board.
BSP Officer-in-Charge Cyd Tuano-Amador said that as the fifth Governor of the BSP, Diokno “brings with him a special brand of leadership honed from decades of exposure to different facets of government operations to improve the lives of Filipinos, in cooperation with the private sector, the academe, and various organizations.”
Tuano Amador said that the BSP community is looking forward to Diokno’s assumption of office on Thursday.
She said that the whole BSP community would be “working closely with him to ensure the smooth functioning of the central bank to effectively discharge its mandate to promote price and financial stability, to ensure a safe, reliable and efficient payments system as well as to help sustain economic growth that is inclusive and participatory.”