Marcos Jr. picks central banker Eli Remolona as new BSP chief

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang announced the appointment of Eli Remolona as the next Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor, replacing Felipe Medalla as the head of the country’s monetary authority.

The appointment was announced by the Presidential Communications Office on Friday.

This ends Medalla’s run as the BSP governor in one of the most trying and difficult period for the Philippine economy.

Under his leadership, the central bank took an aggressive monetary policy tightening to contain inflation. The BSP hiked its policy rate by a total of 425 basis points during Medalla’s tenure.

When Medalla was appointed as the central bank chief in 2022, the domestic economy was in the throes of recovering from pandemic woes. Efforts to reopen the economy in 2022 was spoiled by a weak peso and expensive fuel prices that fanned inflationary pressures.

Meanwhile, Remolona would start his tenure as the BSP governor with lots of leeway for monetary policy to adjust if headwinds overtake the Philippine economy.

"His (Remolona) credentials speak for themselves and he will bring the wealth of his experience to the table. We expect him to seamlessly carry on Medalla’s fight against inflation," Nicholas Antonio Mapa, senior economist at ING Bank in Manila, said.

The BSP maintained the pause on any rate action on Thursday, which experts opined leaves a comfortable room for monetary policy. 

With his appointment, Remolona brings extensive experience as the next BSP governor.

He has 14 year of experience working at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 19 year at the Bank for International Settlements. The latter is considered the “bank of central banks.”

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno described Remolona on Friday as “cerebral.”

From 2008 till 2018, he was the regional head for Asia and the Pacific at BIS.

Before joining the Monetary Board, he was an independent director of the Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Remolona taught at Williams College, Columbia University, New York University and the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics.

He finished his PhD in Economics, “with distinction” in Stanford University in 1982. He graduated with honors from Ateneo De Manila University with, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1972.