The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is further strengthening its research collaboration with partner institutions to improve monetary policymaking, especially in a pandemic and post-COVID-19 period or the “New Economy”.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said the BSP has four Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with strategic research partners this year, so far. These MOUs are with the Philippine Center for Economic Development, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), and the Philippine-American Educational Foundation. They are also about to conclude other MOUs with schools, such as with the University of the Philippines.

“By collaborating with other institutions, we expand our understanding of the environment we operate in. We learn new methods, and ultimately, we arrive at more potent policies, benefitting the Filipino people more effectively,” said Diokno during his weekly “GBED Talks” online.

The BSP Research Academy or BRAc was also recently established, and its agenda includes central bank policy framework and operations; structural changes and central bank policies; regulations and market structures; new technologies and implications for the future of central banking; the financial system and the macroeconomy; and financial inclusion and central banking. The research group will also look into other emerging issues such as the employment and income distribution effects of COVID-19.

Diokno said BSP through the BRAc has a joint research project with the Philippine Institute for Development Studies or PIDS on the monetary and fiscal effects of the pandemic.

The BRAc is also discussing three other research projects with ACPC. These are: the conduct of the Annual Countryside Survey (to validate the trends in agricultural and rural lending); the development of a credit scoring model for small farmers and fisherfolks; and financial inclusion of farmers and fisherfolks in unbanked areas.

Last month, the BSP held its first “BSP International Research Fair” which featured ten research papers with the theme, “Central Banking in the Time of Pandemic.”

Diokno said the presentations highlighted research findings on the impact of the pandemic and ways to prepare for the post-pandemic economy.

For this year, the BSP has an upcoming International Research Conference which is held every two years but due to the pandemic, the 2020 event was deferred to September 27 to 29 this year.

Diokno said the BSP will co-host the three-day event with the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee as a virtual BSP conference, with the theme "Shifting Gears, Changing Lanes: Central Banking in a Post-COVID Economic World”.

“There are issues that directly concern the central banks, but there are developments outside the central banks that are becoming increasingly important due to their implications on central banking,” he said. The conference will be participated by 12 central banks, as well as speakers from the academe, private institutions and from international organizations such as the Bank for International Settlements and the Asian Development Bank.