Benjamin Diokno

Former Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

State of the Philippine economy: Growth, debt, and challenges | Benjamin Diokno | Business 360

📅 Jul 26, 2026 Bilyonaryo News Channel 17 MIN 4141 VIEWS 49 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

As President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his State of the Nation Address, we take a closer look at the country's economic direction with former Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno. Diokno shares his insights on the Philippine economy's current state, discussing economic growth, fiscal policy, infrastructure spending, government debt, corruption, poverty reduction, and the country's newly attained upper middle-income status. 🕥 10:00 a.m., Mondays - Fridays 📺 Free TV Ch. 31, Cignal Ch. 24, Samsung TV Plus, TCL Smart TVs, Blast TV, AmasianTV 📱 Cignal Play, BNC YouTube and Facebook Visit our we...

What Benjamin Diokno said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Benjamin Diokno, former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor and former finance secretary, said the Marcos administration's original growth target of 6.5-8% by 2028 is no longer achievable, projecting 5-6% growth instead. He agreed with the current 3.5-4.5% target for 2026, citing the Iran-Iraq-US war and global slowdown. He flagged OFW remittances growing only 2.5% in the first trimester with deployment down nearly 50%, and FDI barely reaching $2 billion in the first trimester, projecting around $6 billion for the year. He said the BPO industry and remittances, worth about $70 billion annually, face threats from AI. He attributed slow growth to loss of confidence from the flood control scandal, with consumption growth at around 3% versus the usual 5-6%. He urged the president to present a clean, transparent 2027 budget, use line item veto power, and fire cabinet members who negotiate for higher budgets. He criticized LGUs for holding 40% of taxes and not spending, calling the Local Government Support Fund a pork barrel. He said the economy is very uncertain, with growth around 4% this year and 5% next year.

Key takeaways

Growth target of 6.5-8% by 2028 is no longer achievable; projects 5-6% growth.
OFW deployment has declined by almost 50%, making 2.5% remittance growth unsustainable.
FDI in first trimester barely reached $2 billion; projects around $6 billion for the year.
Consumption growth slowed to around 3%, versus usual 5-6%, due to loss of confidence from flood control scandal.
Urges president to present clean 2027 budget, use line item veto, and fire cabinet members who negotiate higher budgets.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
6.5 to 8%	Original growth target by 2028	guidance	1:54
5 or 6%	Projected growth rate given current trajectory	guidance	1:54
3.5 to 4.5%	2026 growth target	guidance	2:51
2.5%	OFW remittance growth in first trimester	metric	2:51
45%	Decline in OFW deployment	metric	2:51
2 billion US dollars	FDI in first trimester	metric	4:40
6 billion	Projected FDI for the year	guidance	4:40
70 billion US dollars	Annual value of BPO industry and OFW remittances	metric	5:24
3%	Consumption growth rate	metric	6:23
40%	Share of taxes going to LGUs	metric	13:59

Chapters

0:00Growth targets and projections
2:51OFW remittances and deployment
4:40Foreign direct investment
5:24AI threat to BPO industry
6:23Loss of confidence and corruption
9:41Budget and line item veto
12:19Local government units and spending
15:39Job creation and economic focus
16:17State of the economy

Questions asked in this interview

1:25Can we still get back on track to the original vision of the Marcos administration?
2:25And then for the following years, slowly they would try to go up to 5% that you mentioned. Is that attainable?
5:58Having experienced various crises throughout history, looking forward, what can we do?
7:26You had mentioned that, confidence, but how do we measure it in terms of how it brings down the economy?
8:29But your prediction, sir, is that no, it will pick up in 2027, yeah?
9:06But no matter how many fish they are able to catch, is that something that would restore confidence or are investors looking to see something else in fact?
11:24What is the direction setting you think that should be pursued?
14:04Do you think that it's redundant?
14:48Do you think the LGSF is kind of being used as a kind of pork barrel?
15:11What can the government do to make the people feel that in fact our administration is working for them or the economy is working for them?
16:13As our final question, what is the state of the economy today?

Interviewer 0:00 ↗

We now look at the state of the country's economy ahead of President Marcos' state of the nation address. And with us today is monetary board member and former finance secretary Benjamin Diokno who joins us to share his insights on the country's growth, debt, and economic challenges. Welcome to Business 360.

Benjamin Diokno 0:18 ↗

Thanks for having me.

Interviewer 0:19 ↗

Let me just share with our audiences that we call you GSM Ben Diokno because you're former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor, former secretary of finance, but also former secretary of budget twice, and undersecretary even before that, and now monetary board member. You have one of the longest career legacies and most remarkable

Benjamin Diokno 0:42 ↗

40 years.

Interviewer 0:43 ↗

40 years as a public servant serving so you're really the best person to tell us about our economy. And going, some of our audiences would recall you were the architect, you were the first finance secretary of President Bongbong Marcos. And at the time I remember we really hit the ground running because you had the eight-point social economic agenda and the medium-term fiscal framework that you had crafted.

Benjamin Diokno 1:11 ↗

Mhm.

Interviewer 1:11 ↗

And at the time I remember that your vision for the economy was an economic transformation that would be achieved through high growth rates meaning hitting 6 to 8% all the way up to 2028.

Benjamin Diokno 1:25 ↗

Mhm.

Interviewer 1:25 ↗

And in the first year was a very good year while you were finance secretary. We had 7.6%, but unfortunately in 2025, perhaps because of global headwinds, Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that maybe it was also because of corruption, we had only 4.4%. In the first quarter of this year, it was 2.8%. Do you think sir that we are still on track? Can we still get back on track to the original vision of the Marcos administration?

Benjamin Diokno 1:54 ↗

I think you mentioned that the North Star really was that by 2028 we will be growing at around 6.5 to 8%. We can't accomplish that anymore given the current trajectory. I think given the current trajectory we'll probably hit something like maybe 5 or 6%.

Interviewer 2:15 ↗

And is that enough?

Benjamin Diokno 2:17 ↗

As long as we can continue to grow at that rate for the next 20 years, that's more than enough. Next 20 years.

Interviewer 2:25 ↗

It should be good. In fact, I think as for the last development budget coordination committee meeting, they had projected for 2026 taking into consideration the Iran war, for this year it would be 3.5 to 4.5% target. And then for the following years, slowly they would try to go up to 5% that you mentioned. Is that attainable?

Benjamin Diokno 2:51 ↗

I think I will agree now. Earlier I was more optimistic than RC. I think that the current target of around 3.5 to 4.5% rate will be achievable because of many developments. Number one is because I thought that the Iran-Iraq-US war will be over and now it has accelerated. And also because of recent developments, for example, the OFW remittances, while it has gone up by about 2.5% the first trimester, 2.5%. To me that is a sign of the altruistic nature of the remittances, meaning the Filipinos abroad are sending to their folks here because they think we need it here. But the worrisome part of that remittances is that about half of the deployment has declined by about half, 45%.

Interviewer 4:07 ↗

Is it because of the

Benjamin Diokno 4:07 ↗

worrisome.

Interviewer 4:08 ↗

Because of the war, sir, or

Benjamin Diokno 4:10 ↗

Of the war in and the slowdown of the global economy. So the 2.5% growth in OFW remittances, I doubt whether that is sustainable. Because the global economy slowdown, the income of our OFW remittances, of course, will also be affected by high prices all over. And of course, the deployment actually has declined by almost 50%, by half.

Interviewer 4:39 ↗

Oh my gosh.

Benjamin Diokno 4:40 ↗

That's worrisome. So I also look at the foreign direct investment for the first trimester, it has barely reached 2 billion US dollars. That suffers in comparison with our Asian neighbors. So my projection is that we'll probably hit around 6 billion FDIs, foreign direct investments. That's the kind of investment that we need, those that set up factories here and we'll stay here for the next 20 years, okay.

Interviewer 5:09 ↗

6 billion dollars seems like such a small amount compared to what, for example, Singapore is in the hundreds of billions in FDI.

Benjamin Diokno 5:18 ↗

That's worrisome, the FDIs and the OFW remittances.

Interviewer 5:23 ↗

Do you think

Benjamin Diokno 5:24 ↗

And the third one, which probably is not going to happen sooner than we expect, is the AI effect on the BPO industry in the country. So because the BPO industry and the OFW remittances account for easily around 70 billion US dollars every year. But that's also maybe down the road that will also be threatened by the AI.

25 more exchanges in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Diokno, B. (2026, July 26). State of the Philippine economy: Growth, debt, and challenges | Benjamin Diokno | Business 360 [Interview transcript]. Bilyonaryo News Channel. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1132819/

MLA

Benjamin Diokno. "State of the Philippine economy: Growth, debt, and challenges | Benjamin Diokno | Business 360." Bilyonaryo News Channel, 26 Jul. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1132819/.

BibTeX

@misc{diokno2026_1132819,
  author       = {Benjamin Diokno},
  title        = {State of the Philippine economy: Growth, debt, and challenges | Benjamin Diokno | Business 360},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Bilyonaryo News Channel. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jul},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1132819/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“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”

▶ 9:51 POLICY

“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 ”

▶ 15:39 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

Arsenio Balisacan: Secretary who attributed 2025 growth slowdown to corruption

Build Better More program: Infrastructure program that should continue with 5-6% of GDP

Local Government Support Fund: Fund criticized as pork barrel, providing incentives for LGUs

Cory, Erap, Duterte: Presidents under whom Diokno served as budget secretary

Earlier, on the same topics

“That's worse. That's worse the the the uh flood control shock, right? Because it means loss of confidence. Uh so credibility is very important and also the uh the stopage in in the infrastructure if you notice construction I think uh uh contracted by about 31.5% first quarter. I would I will I I wou”

Jul 02, 2026 at 3:22 →

“My first major act during the Cory administration was the 1986 tax reform program. I presented 25 tax measures in one cabinet meeting, and after my presentation, the President asked if there were any questions. There being none, they approved all 25 measures in one cabinet meeting.”

May 10, 2026 at 10:30 →

Every Benjamin Diokno interview →

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Ben Diokno on ayuda, flood control, inflation, and PH growth | Thought Leaders with Cathy YangJul 02, 2026 · One News PH · 46 min
Diokno says BBM faces key test in fifth SONAJun 26, 2026 · One News PH · 16 min
Sec. Ben Diokno: An Influential Economic Mind | The SpokesMay 10, 2026 · Bilyonaryo News Channel · 53 min

All Benjamin Diokno transcripts →

About Benjamin Diokno

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.

All Benjamin Diokno appearances → Bilyonaryo News Channel on YouTube →