VETERAN economist Felipe Medalla is the new governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) starting Friday, July 1, 2022.

Medalla has been a member of the BSP’s Monetary Board since July 2011.

He had also served as socioeconomic planning secretary and the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority from 1998 to 2001 during the administration of former President Joseph Estrada.

He is replacing incumbent BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno who has been appointed as Finance secretary.

Medalla holds a PhD in economics. He served as dean of the University of the Philippines School of Economics as well as Vice president for planning and finance of the UP System.

The BSP said the seasoned economist has written papers on the effects of economic policies on poverty and problems in the measurement of Philippine economic growth, among others.

The Marcos administration is grappling with skyrocketing inflation and debt.

The Philippines’ debt-to-GDP is at 63.5 percent while inflation hit 5.4 percent in April.

In an earlier interview with Bloomberg, Medalla said there could be two more rate hikes by August as inflation continues to soar.

The BSP earlier hiked interest rate by another 25-basis points to 2.50 percent.