Palace keeps hands off monetary policy — DOF chief

MANILA, Philippines — Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said yesterday the government would not interfere with monetary policy following the appointment of former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno as governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

During the 9th Business Forum of the Manila Times held in Makati City yesterday, Dominguez said there is no effort on the part of the government to influence the BSP’s monetary policy decisions.

“Actually, the law is very clear. Monetary policy is the purview of the Monetary Board and the central bank and there is no plan or no effort to takeover or influence their decisions,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez also assured that while he may also be a member of the BSP’s Monetary Board, the process adopted by the policy-making body ensures the formulation of decisions are based on data.

“I sit in the Monetary Board and what I do there is I take off my finance secretary hat. And really, the way the deliberations are done, is that they take a look at the data. They have very good analysts. They look at the data, they make their recommendations and the MB looks at these recommendations and they make a decision,” he said.

Moreover, Dominguez said his vote only constitutes one out of the seven members of the MB.

“I have one (over) seventh of the vote and as you know in any voting that is very small. So generally we come into a consensus and this administration does not interfere with monetary policy,” the finance chief said.

Dominguez also defended the appointment of Diokno as central bank chief, saying he was the most qualified among the candidates.

 “Diokno is the first governor who has three master degrees and one PhD degree. Now, what is important I think in the governorship of the central bank, is somebody who has the right educational background and right experience for the job. And Mr. Diokno certainly is very well prepared in my view,” the finance chief said. 

“I support fully his appointment by the President. And he has a lot of experience running large organizations, such as the budget (department) and he is quite the most qualified at the moment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Diokno during the last Breakfast with Ben forum yesterday, said the DBM, under the helm of officer-in-charge Janet Abuel would continue to pursue the reforms that it has started.

These include government procurement reforms, the Budget and Treasury Management System, Project DIME, and “Green, Green, Green” among others.

Abuel, for her part, also committed to continue performing the duties of the DBM.

 “We will keep working tirelessly in the DBM to continue performing our mandate efficiently and to pursue the reforms that we have mentioned. I thank the President and Secretary Diokno for the trust and confidence and I will do the best that I can to balance duty and impartiality as the caretaker of the DBM,” she said.