Philippine budget secretary Benjamin Diokno named as new central bank governor

He will be serving the remainder of Espenilla’s six-year term which will end by 2023.

Incumbent Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary Benjamin Diokno has been chosen by President Rodrigo Duterte to head Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) after the passing of BSP chief Nestor Espenilla Jr., reports Philippine Star.

Diokno bested BSP deputy governors Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño-Amador, Diwa Guinigundo and Chuchi Fonacier as well as Monetary Board member Peter Favila and bankers Nestor Tan of BDO Unibank, Antonio Moncupa of EastWest Bank, and Cezar Consing of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).

The new BSP chief will be serving the remainder of Espenilla’s six-year term which will end by 2023.

Also read: Philippine central bank governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. passes away at 60

Before his stint as budget secretary in 2016, Diokno was as senior advisor at the International Tax and Investment Center, a professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines Diliman School of Economics, chairman, Board of Regents, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, chairman, Board of Trustees, Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, and an independent director, at Asia United Bank.

He also served as fiscal adviser to the Philippine Senate. Moreover, Diokno also experienced being a chairman and CEO of the Philippine National Oil Co. and chairman of the Local Water Utilities Administration.