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Benjamin Diokno

Former Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

Search every verified Benjamin Diokno interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Benjamin Diokno, a member of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board and former Finance Secretary, discussed recent monetary policy and fiscal developments in interviews. Regarding the BSP's October 2026 decision to raise its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, Diokno attributed the move to inflation that remained "stubbornly high" at 7.2 percent and widespread across regions. He stated that the goal is to return inflation to the BSP's 3 percent target by 2028, and indicated that future rate decisions would depend on incoming data. Diokno also commented on a Supreme Court ruling concerning unprogrammed appropriations in the national budget. He said the decision would likely return such appropriations to a smaller amount focused on foreign-assisted projects, and expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating there would be "no more pork barrel for congressmen and senators." In a separate September interview, he characterized Philippine economic challenges as largely domestic-driven, arguing "it's wrong to blame external factors for all our problems," and pointed to low consumption and investment tied to confidence in government. He also noted that debt-to-GDP had risen to 64.9 percent, moving away from the targets of the administration's medium-term fiscal framework.

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“I think the unprogrammed appropriation will go back to where it was before small amount, but it will be focused on the foreign assisted projects. So no more pork barrel for congressmen and senators. That's why I'm happy with the decision of the Supreme Court.”

“The inflation has been stubbornly high. In fact, the latest number is 7.2. And it's not only high, it's widespread. If there's a We have inflation by region and all regions were high. The lowest is NCR surprisingly. And but most regions are really that high. And we want to make sure that given that high inflation, that we should be back to our target inflation rate of 3% by maybe in a year, in 2 years, maybe by 2028.”

“We have actually what it's called continuing measured increases. 25 bips, 25 bips, 25 bips. Right now whether we're going to raise or not, that's still in the agenda but it will depend on the data that will come in next few weeks because we meet every other month.”

“I think it's wrong to blame external factors for all our problems at the moment. It's because most of our problems are domestic driven. Low consumption, low investment and these are based on their perception of what the government is doing. So it's confidence in government.”

“I'd like the president to be forward-looking and talk talk of the budget, next year's budget. I think that's important. He will say if I were the president, I'll say, 'This is my budget. Don't mess up with this budget. I want this to be a clean and transparent budget.' ... And then I will exercise my line item veto power. That's an awesome power of the president. Not even the US president has that power.”

“I think the focus of the government is to create jobs, better paying jobs, rather than the ayudas, okay? I think Filipinos in general, they prefer to work rather than beg, right? Because there's pride in working. So, I think that should be the focus. More more more manufacturing jobs, more the we should strengthen the small and medium-scale industries, things like that. So, better paying jobs and focus on growth rath”

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →