Former Finance chief Diokno completes Monetary Board

Former Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno has been appointed as a full-time Member of the Monetary Board (MBM) for a six-year term effective January 12,2024, after having served as chief of the Department of Finance.

MBM Diokno continues his service at the MB after chairing it as BSP Governor from March 2019 to June 2022 and representing the government sector as an ex-officio MBM when he was Finance Secretary from July 2022 to January 2024. He completes the MB, which has seven members.

The MB is headed by BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. as Chairman. The other MBMs are V. Bruce J. Tolentino, Anita Linda R. Aquino, Romeo L. Bernardo, Rosalia V. De Leon, and a member of the Cabinet designated by the President.

MBM Diokno took over as BSP governor in March 2019 with the passing of then BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr.

In 2022, London-based publication The Banker recognized BSP Governor Diokno as “Global Central Banker of the Year” after he effectively steered the country’s financial system through the pandemic.

Meanwhile, as Finance Secretary, he led the economic team toward three development goals, namely, to reduce the deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to pre-pandemic level, bring down poverty incidence to single-digits, and achieve upper-middle-income status by the end of the current administration in 2028.

Before joining the BSP, he served as Budget Secretary from 2016 to 2019 and from 1998 to 2001, and as Budget Undersecretary from 1986 to 1991.

He is also Professor Emeritus of the University of the Philippines, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in public administration and master’s degrees in public administration and economics. In 2017, the University conferred him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

MBM Diokno also holds a PhD in Economics from Syracuse University in New York and a Master of Arts in Political Economy degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.