Who Is Eli Remolona, the New BSP Governor?

With the exit of Felipe Medalla from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Presidential Communications Office on Friday, June 23, 2023, announced his replacement. Joining the led economic team of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is long-time economist and expert on monetary policy Eli Remolona.

“After extensive consultations with the Department of Finance, various government offices, private banks and financial institutions, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has made the decision to appoint a new Governor to succeed Governor Medalla,” the PSO wrote in a statement.

Diokno notes that monetary policy is "Remolona's life" during a press briefing. Remolona has served as a member of the BSP Monetary Board since August 2022. BSP governors serve a six-year term. In the case of Medalla and Diokno, however, the two served the remainder of the late Nestor Espenilla Jr.’s term with the institution after his passing in 2019.

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After graduating with an economics degree from Ateneo de Manila University and a PhD in economics from Stanford, Remolona boasts quite the resume.

In the past, the new BSP governor has had experience with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank for International Settlements, serving 14 and 19 years, respectively. In the latter, he had also been chief representative for Asia and the Pacific. Apart from this, he had been an associate editor for finance of the International Journal of Central Banking from 2005 to 2022 and a director of central banking at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur from 2019 to 2022.

Interestingly, Remolona was also an economist in the Presidential Economic Staff and Development Management Staff under Marcos Sr.