Tetangco again cited as among world’s best central bankers

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. was again recognized as one of the world’s best central bankers by an international business magazine.

It was Mr. Tetangco’s fourth citation by the publication.The Global Finance magazine released its Central Banker Report Card 2012 on Friday, giving an “A” grade to Mr. Tetangco, as well as Glenn Stevens of Australia, Mark Carney of Canada, Stanley Fischer of Israel, Zeti Akhtar Aziz of Malaysia and Fai-Nan Perng of Taiwan.

The Central Banker Report Card, published since 1994, grades central bank governors in 50 countries on a scale of “A” to “F” based on areas such as inflation, economic growth, currency stability and interest rate management.

“During one of the toughest years on record, the world’s central bankers were tested as never before. Every year, we assess the determination of central bankers to stand up to political interference, and their efforts at influencing their governments on such issues as spending and economic openness to foreign investment and financial services,” Joseph Giarraputo, Global Finance publisher, said in the magazine’s Web site.

Other notable figures in the list included the United States’ Ben Bernanke, who got a “B”, one notch better than the “C” he got last year. The United Kingdom’s Mervyn King and China’s Zhou Xiaochuan both saw their assessment worsen to “B-” from “B”.

Under the leadership of Mr. Tetangco, inflation has been low and stable. It averaged 4.6% in 2011, falling within the target of 3-5%. As of July, it averaged 3.1%, at the low end of the 3-5% target for this year.

Banks’ asset quality has improved with universal and commercial banks’ non-performing loan ratio falling to 2.18% as of May from 15% in 2002 or after the Asian financial crisis.

Banks are also well-capitalized, with system-wide capital adequacy ratio at 16.65% on solo basis and at 17.64% on consolidated basis as of December 2011, exceeding the BSP’s requirement of 10%.

Noting the likely impact a global economic slump will have on the Philippines, the BSP cut its policy rates by 25 basis points last month to new lows of 3.75% for overnight borrowing and 5.75% for overnight lending.

The Philippines was among the region’s best performers in the first quarter, posting growth of 6.4%. The government targets 5-6% expansion this year. -- Diane Claire J. Jiao, Business World