On November 9, 2017, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno served as a resource speaker at the Plenary Panel Session of the 55th Philippine Economic Society (PES) Annual Meeting and Conference. The summit, held in Novotel Manila Araneta Center, gathered the leading minds in Economics across different sectors like banking and finance, commerce, public policy, and the academe.

In his plenary presentation, Sec. Diokno emphasized the Duterte Administration’s commitment in the swift implementation of Build Build Build. He noted the significant increase in government disbursements and the reduced rate of underspending compared to previous years. For a post-election year (FY 2017 coming after the 2016 elections), he also stressed that government spending and infrastructure spending have rebounded in contrast to previous experiences of disbursement contractions.

The Budget chief was joined by Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. in the plenary panel session. The said segment was moderated by Mr. Emilio S. Neri, Jr., the lead economist of the Bank of the Philippine Islands.