Guest Speaker’s Profile: Diwa C. Guinigundo

Diwa C. Guinigundo rose from the ranks of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and is now Deputy Governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, BSP. He has been serving the BSP for 40 years. He was assistant governor for monetary policy and international operations prior to his appointment as deputy governor in 2005.

Dep. Gov. Guinigundo has extensive international experience. In 2001-2003, he was Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Earlier he was Head of Research at The SEACEN (Southeast Asian Central Banks) Centre in Kuala Lumpur in 1992-1994.

His leadership is well-recognized in Asia. Since 2000, Dep. Gov. Guinigundo has co-chaired with Bank Negara Malaysia the SEACEN Experts Group on Capital Flows and in 2010-2013, the ASEAN Senior Level Committee on Financial Integration. He chaired again the ASEAN Senior Level Committee for 2016-2018. He also chairs the SEACEN Task Force on SEACEN membership. He chaired the 2017 ASEAN Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meetings in Manila, Philippines in April 2017.

Outside the ASEAN region, Dep. Gov. Guinigundo’s leadership is also well-recognized. For the period 2009-2012, he chaired the Executive Meeting of East Asia and the Pacific (EMEAP) Monetary and Financial Stability Committee of EMEAP central bank deputies that is tasked to conduct regional and global surveillance. He established various early warning systems for surveillance and risk management purposes.

Most important, Dep. Gov. Guinigundo has profound knowledge of all central banking aspects. He pioneered inflation targeting as the BSP’s analytical framework for monetary policy in 2002. In 2016, he was instrumental in introducing the interest rate corridor system as a tool for monetary management to keep inflation under control. He is also the moving force behind the BSP’s advocacy for economic and financial literacy to help the poor manage their finances and address the issue of poverty. Dev. Gov. Guinigundo also championed the establishment of Credit Surety Funds all over the Philippines to empower micro, small and medium enterprises by enhancing their access to bank credit without collateral.

He participated in various banking rehabilitation workouts. He has handled monetary policy, treasury operations, loans and credit, asset management, currency management, regional operations and international relations.

He is a member of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Board. He is the BSP’s representative at the National Food Authority (NFA) Council, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund (IGLF) and Halal Export Development Board. He is a resource person of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) and Executive Technical Board (ETB).

Dep. Gov. Guinigundo has participated in the annual Philippine Economic Briefing sessions in the Philippines as well as in Asia, Europe and the United States together with the country’s principal economic managers.

Dep. Gov. Guinigundo graduated, cum laude, at the top of his AB Economics Class at the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics. He earned the M.Sc. degree in Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) as a scholar of the Central Bank of the Philippines. He is the 2018 recipient of Promise Governance Leadership Award for Asia in Los Angeles, California, USA.

He is married to April Eve L. Guerrero and they have two sons, Daniel and Abraham, both lawyers. With Dep. Gov. Guinigundo as senior pastor, the family is active in the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong.