BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. got a B+ as his first rating as the country’s Central Bank governor, an international finance publication recently bared.
In its annual Central Banker Report Cards, Global Finance said the Philippine Central Banker Espenilla’s rating was based on recent actions made by the BSP to keep various economic indices stable.
This is the first rating given to Espenilla since he assumed office in July 2017, as he was not given a grade in last year’s issue because he was still new to the office.
The Central Banker Report Cards are published annually by the international publication Global Finance since 1994. It grades 85 central bank governors of key jurisdictions.
Grades are based on an “A” to “F” scale for success in areas such as inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability and interest rate management.
“Central bankers are confronting a perfect storm of challenges, from unwinding quantitative easing to shielding economies from political upheavals. Our scorecards for these public finance leaders show who is maintaining control and moving forward, and who is struggling against slippery political or economic changes,” Global Finance Publisher and Editorial Director Joseph Giarraputo said.
The publication noted in its full list that Espenilla pulled back-to-back rate hikes this year, as its actions were designed to “safeguard macroeconomic stability in an environment of rising commodity prices and ongoing normalization of monetary policy in advanced economies.”
Global Finance also cited the 6.8-percent growth in the first quarter of 2018, close to the government’s 7 to 8 percent target, as well as the rising employment numbers and wages.
The only “but” to Espenilla’s commentary was the slump of the local currency to 12-year-lows this year, as government spending on infrastructure drew in imports, widening the current-account deficit.
Espenilla’s B+ ranks with Bank of Japan’s Haruhiko Kuroda, Bank of Canada’s Stephen Poloz and the State Bank of Vietnam’s Le Ming Hung, among others.
Ten Central Bankers were given Grade A in 2018, including those from Australia, Chile, the European Union, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Paraguay, Russia and South Korea.
Three of the 10 2018 Grade A Central Bankers were given a B+ rating in 2017. Former BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. was awarded a Grade A for several years while he was in office: in 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Image credits: Carlo Gabuco?Bloomberg