Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said Thursday the bank constantly prepares to effectively manage and mitigate the risks posed by global developments that may stifle economic growth.
The Financial Stability Coordination Council, in its quarterly meeting, welcomed Diokno as its new chairman, replacing the late BSP Governor and FSCC chairman Nestor Espenilla Jr. who passed away last month.
Diokno led the assessment on the impact of the slowing global growth on the Philippines and the changing economic landscape in both the US and China.
“Global markets were turbulent when we closed 2018 and there are new developments at the start of 2019 that could affect financial markets,” Diokno told the council.
“We need to consider the possible scenarios and steer our financial system so that we can effectively manage these possibilities and continue with our economic growth agenda,” he said.
Diokno said he would continue to build on the progress made by FSCC as the venue for financial market authorities to identify, monitor, manage and mitigate the buildup of systemic risk in the Philippine financial system.
Local market conditions were also reviewed including the state of the banking industry and the corporate sector.
The analysis of the council is expected to be shared publicly with the release of the 2018 Financial Stability Report in the second quarter of 2019.
The council discussed the key takeaways from the BSP-IMF Regional Dialogue on Financial Stability for Asean Central Banks held in January 2019. Among the issues discussed was the need for greater clarity of the scope of financial stability, alongside other policy objectives and advocacies of financial authorities. The FSCC considered a draft and expected to finalize it soon.
FSCC is an inter-agency council with the BSP, the Finance Department, the Insurance Commission, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission as member institutions.