Tetangco among world’s top 7 central bankers — magazine

Manila Bulletin

Lee C. Chipongian

Global Finance Magazine has upgraded from "A-" to "A" Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr.’s rating as a central banker, one of the top seven in the world, the New York publication said in its "Central Banker Report Card 2007" issue.


The six other graded "A" central bankers are Indonesia’s Burhanuddin Abdullah, Malaysia’s Zeti Akhtar Aziz, India’s Yaga Venugopal Reddy, Taiwan’s Fai-Nan Perng, Israel’s Stanley Fischer and Sweden’s Stefan Ingves.

The report said Tetangco, who was appointed BSP governor in February 2005, "deserves a top grade for helping to create an environment conducive to sustained growth." In 2006, he received a rating of "A-" based on his first full year in office.

In the meantime the "B" listers in the magazine’s October issue were Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Brazil, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Czech Republic, Turkey, Australia and Saudi Arabia. Mexico’s Guillermo Ortiz Martinez received a "B+" rating while Chile’s Vittorio Carbo had a "B-".

Most of the rich economies’ chief central bankers were rated lower like the United States’ Ben Bernanke and Japan’s Toshihiko Fukui, both with "Cs." China and Canada central bank chiefs were also rated with "Cs."

On the other hand the "Ds" were given to the United Kingdom, Russia, Poland, Argentina and New Zealand.

According to the magazine, "the world’s central bankers have given the impression that they are a competent group and that they are learning from one another’s mistakes and successes to help make the financial world a safer, more stable place."

‘And while there is no doubt that the general standard of banking is still on the rise," it reported, "this year’s turbulence has shown that many of them are still a little trigger happy. To their credit, though, mostly they have been able to resist what is often intense political pressure for short-term economic fillips and maintain their focus on their primary function (which is) ensuring the long-term stability of their country’s economies."

"Individually, many of the world’s leading central bankers seemed to be in disarray after the subprime debacle began to unfold in mid-2007. (As a group) they acted with remarkable unity," it added.

The report on Tetangco detailed the BSP’s efforts to contain inflation, which has dropped below its 4-5 percent target range for the year, now averaging at 2.6 percent as of September.

It also noted the strong local currency and the hefty dollar reserves, which as of August has surpassed billion. "The central bank in July cut the overnight borrowing rate by 150 basis points to 6 percent, the first reduction in four years, and stopped paying a lower rate of interest for commercial banks’ placements in excess of P5 billion … the net effect on monetary policy was neutral as a result of the complementary moves."

Tetangco, a former deputy governor handling banking services sector, economic research and treasury for the BSP, has been with the institution for thirty years and is one of the principal architects of BSP reforms.

At 54, Tetangco is the second youngest BSP chief appointed. Jaime C. Laya, central bank governor during the time of President Marcos, is the youngest to be assigned the position.

He graduated cum laude at the Ateneo de Manila University with an MA for public policy and administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.

Before BSP, he worked for SGV & Co. for a year and in 1992-1994, he served as Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund.