BSP to refine economic surveillance tools

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is working on further refining their economic surveillance tools to better capture data and enhance policymaking, an official said.

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The central bank is shifting from mainly traditional data to more soft data in their monitoring, surveillance, and assessment, BSP Deputy Governor Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja said.

“We're trying to improve a lot of things at the central bank, including our ability to monitor what's happening on the ground real time and what it means going forward,” he told reporters on Friday.

“As we improve the surveillance, it helps us communicate, hopefully, what we think is happening on the ground and what we think are important developments that could affect policies moving forward." For example, the BSP is studying how to mine more data from the Consumer Expectations Survey and Business Expectations Survey.

"We are reviewing the instruments. We want to improve the ease of filling up or getting more information," he said, adding that they are also reviewing the content of these surveys.

The BSP is also looking at how to streamline the data without sacrificing the information gathered.