Eli Remolona. BSP bsp.gov.ph
President Bongbong Marcos has appointed Eli Remolona as the new governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Malacañang announced on Friday.
Remolona, a member of the Monetary Board of the BSP since August 2022, will succeed central bank chief Felipe Medalla who will step down on July 2.
Medalla served the unfinished term of former BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno, who was appointed finance secretary in June last year.
“With his extensive experience and remarkable achievements in central banking, economic policy, international finance and financial markets, Mr. Remolona brings a wealth of expertise to his new role,” Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said in a statement.Remolona’s career included a notable tenure of 14 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, followed by 19 years at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Garafil said.
His earliest stints in government include serving as an economic adviser to then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the current President’s father, she noted.
‘International stature’
“Before Edsa I, we were together at the UP School of Economics. Then he left sometime in 1985 for the US to work with the Federal Reserve, and then after about eight years he moved to the (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland,” Diokno told reporters, citing Remolona’s credentials. “So he is really known in the central banking community.” “(Then) he taught at universities like Williams College and New York University. These are what he has in terms of international stature,” he said.
Remolona, 70, also served as an independent director of the Bank of the Philippine Islands before his appointment to the Monetary Board last year, Diokno added.
At BIS, Remolona served as regional head for Asia and the Pacific, where he closely collaborated with the governors of 12 leading central banks in the region. Remolona also taught courses (monetary policy, money and capital markets, and digital transformation) at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, from 2019 to 2022.
He had published over 5,500 citations in leading journals in economics and finance, and served as associate editor for finance in the International Journal of Central Banking from 2005 to 2022, Garafil added.
Remolona served as an economist on the Presidential Economic and Development Management Staff under Alejandro Melchor, then the executive secretary of President Marcos Sr. As a member of high-level economic missions, he advised the elder Marcos, particularly on structural reforms, according to Garafil.
He also served as a consultant of Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Welcomed
The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) welcomed the appointment of Remolona, saying they were confident he “will anchor the Philippine banking industry not only towards continuous stability of the financial system but also to growth and competitiveness in the regional stage.”
The BAP likewise saluted Medalla for his “steadfast leadership” at a particularly challenging time.
“Dr. Medalla ascended in his role as BSP Governor in a period wherein the economy is facing various macroeconomic headwinds. We applaud Dr. Medalla for steering monetary policy towards achieving the twin goals of promoting economic growth and price stability,” said BAP president Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) likewise welcomed Remolona’s appointment as BSP chief.
“His years of experience speak highly of his bank regulatory credentials. A good choice,” PCCI president George Barcelon said, adding: “BSP Governor Medalla did a wonderful job during the critical period of uncertainty from the pandemic and the world’s inflationary trend and should be commended.”
Medalla on Friday night thanked President Marcos for the chance to serve as BSP governor, describing his one-year stint as “the best opportunity that I have received to truly make an impact and serve the Filipino people.”“I am honored to turn over the reins of the institution to my Monetary Board colleague Eli Remolona who is fully capable of leading the central bank in pursuing its mandates of promoting price and financial stability, and a safe and efficient payments and settlements system,” he said.