BIZ BUZZ: Two-horse race for BSP

Reading between the lines of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno—who was influential in selecting his replacement as central bank chief last year when he took on the challenge of leading President Marcos’ economic team —the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) chief selection is now down to a two-horse race.

It will be either incumbent chief Felipe Medalla will be reappointed (his term ends on July 3), or someone who isn’t an ex-banker but ideally a professional economist with “international stature.”

Many are betting that if it isn’t Medalla, and eliminating all the ex-bankers who are believed to be in the running, Diokno is referring to no other than first-term Monetary Board member Eli Remolona, a former Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) officer, whom we earlier cited as a viable option to be the next BSP chief.

The operative description here is one with “international stature,” which is believed to apply to Remolona.

Both Medalla and Remolona are excellent choices, although we hear that the former’s chances may have been affected by earlier remarks on the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund, which didn’t sit well with some of Mr. Marcos’ influential allies. But as Diokno himself has said, he isn’t out of the game.

New York-based Global Source expects either Medalla or Remolona to be “highly welcomed by financial markets.”

Commenting on Medalla, the June 7 Global Source commentary written by economists Romeo Bernardo and Marie Christine Tang said, “During his one year at the helm of the BSP, financial market players have been most impressed by his clear thinking and straight talk in signaling and explaining policy actions.” As for Remolona, he was deemed “preeminently qualified for the job, having spent 14 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY and the US Federal Reserve Board in DC and 19 years at the Bank for International Settlements, half of which was as regional BIS regional head for Asia and the Pacific.”

Meanwhile, along with the BSP governorship, there are three more Monetary Board seats to be filled. But “based on past appointments in the economic sphere, we have little cause to be concerned about the quality of appointments,” Global Source said.

—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

‘Growing like potatoes’

Potato Corner seems to be steadily growing like … well … potatoes around the country, with the popular food cart business planning to open 300 more stores and kiosks in the Philippines this year.

Potato Corner cofounder Jose Magsaysay Jr., who now serves as senior advisor to Shakey’s Pizza Ventures Inc- the company that acquired the brand in 2021- told Biz Buzz on Friday of this expansion plan, a move that would mean growing the number of stores of the multi-billion-peso business by nearly a third.

“There’s an explosion of entrepreneurship because of the COVID crisis. Everybody wants to put up their own businesses in these times so they can have better security,” Magsaysay said on the sidelines of the pre-event for the International Tax Conference organized by Philippine tax firm Asian Consulting Group.

From just 70 stores in 1994, the food chain kiosk chain operator now has over 1,100 stores in the Philippines and another 200 in other countries.

Potato Corner’s overseas markets include Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Panama, United Arab Emirates, United States and the United Kingdom.

Magsaysay said they are also looking to eventually expand into other markets, including India— Asia’s third largest economy —and other European countries.

—Alden M. Monzon INQ

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