President Duterte has appointed Karl Kendrick Chua as Secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) a year after occupying the post in acting capacity.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Chua has served the government "with professionalism, competence and integrity" and is expected to help propel the country's economic recovery.
"With the aforesaid traits we are confident that Secretary Chua would continuously and consistently perform well in his present but crucial task of jumpstarting our economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic," Roque said in a statement Thursday, April 22.
"Congratulations to Secretary Chua and we wish him all the best," he said.
Chua was named acting NEDA Secretary in April 2020 after then Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia quit the post over differences in development views with some Cabinet members.
Prior to his appointment to the NEDA, Chua served as Undersecretary for the Strategy, Economics, and Results Group in the Department of Finance (DOF).
Chua, an economics graduate from the University of the Philippines, was the World Bank’s senior country economist for the Philippines before joining the government. He worked at the World Bank from 2004 to 2016.