MANILA - Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' Monetary Board Member and former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla will be the next central bank governor, President-elect Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr announced Thursday.

Current BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno will leave his post earlier than expected to become Marcos' Finance chief, Marcos Jr said in a press briefing.

"His [Diokno’s] place in the BSP will be taken by Felipe Medalla who will take on his unexpired term," Marcos Jr said.

Diokno meanwhile commended the choice of his successor as BSP chief.

"I recommended Medalla to take over to ensure continuity and closer coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities," Diokno said.

Medalla has served in the administration of four presidents, according to the BSP. He has been a member of the central bank's Monetary Board since July 2011.

He was the Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and the Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority from 1998 to 2001 during the administration of former president Joseph Estrada.

Before his stint at the BSP, Medalla was a professor at the University of the Philippines' School of Economics, where he was dean for 4 years starting 1994.

Medalla holds a PhD in Economics from the Northwestern University in Evanston and an MA in Economics from the University of the Philippines, and a cum laude for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Commerce from De La Salle Univerisity.