Dr. Maria Margarita Debuque-Gonzales heads the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas - Research Academy (BRAc), which was established in 2021 to help strengthen the analytical capacity and research presence of the BSP.

Before joining the central bank, she held key roles in the country’s leading academic and research institutions, including serving as Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), Editor-in-Chief of the Philippine Journal of Development, and Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE).

Focusing on financial and monetary economics and macroeconomics, Dr. Gonzales has written extensively on financial conditions, financial crises, financial inclusion, monetary policy effectiveness, fiscal sustainability, fiscal multipliers, macroeconometric modeling and forecasting, and the macroeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from publishing in both local and international academic journals, Dr. Gonzales has made significant contributions to policy discussions through consultancy and presenter roles with various public institutions, including the BSP, as well as international financial institutions such as the Bank for International Settlements. Her achievements also include leading the development of UPSE’s Financial Economics Program in the 2010s and helping PIDS secure the Outstanding Book Award from the National Academy of Science and Technology in 2023.

Earlier in her career, she worked as an economic and financial journalist, gaining wide recognition for her insightful features and analyses. Dr. Gonzales graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology (magna cum laude) from UP Diliman and obtained both her MA and PhD degrees in Economics from UPSE.