amando m tetangco, jr : implementing responsive monetary and banking policies keynote address by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the 2008 awarding ceremony for bsp stakeholders, manila, 11 july 2008. * * * distinguished partners from the private and the government sectors, special guests, good morning! on behalf of the members of the monetary board, i thank all of you for joining us today as we honor our partners who continue to support the bangko sentral ng pilipinas in its various initiatives. ladies and gentlemen. we cannot overemphasize the value of your support and cooperation. inflation targeting, which serves as framework for the formulation of our monetary policies, is information intensive. information from our partner institutions in government and the private sectors are key inputs when we assess the economy and decide on the most appropriate monetary policy stance, moving forward. it is imperative therefore that the information you provide us is comprehensive, accurate, and timely. the insights from our collaboration, coupled with the information from our surveys and other available statistics have helped sharpen the basis of our policy decisions. this is important in ensuring we make well - grounded decisions, so to speak. these are challenging times given strong inflationary pressures from record high oil and food prices. we need to forge stronger links of cooperation among different segments of our economy to ride out the rough patches. let me be specific. the bsp ’ s business and consumer expectations surveys help us assess the current and near - term prospects of the economy. even if the information you provide can be considered indicative and directional, they are important and valuable. in essence, bes data provide up - to - date qualitative indicators of economic performance in real time ; this facilitates prompt and precisely calibrated monetary policy actions on our part. for instance, inputs regarding business and spending plans have enhanced the forward - looking flavor of inflation targeting in our country. on the other hand, our surveys pertaining to external sector statistics provide key economic indicators for the bangko sentral, particularly in relation to our balance of payments position. ladies and gentlemen. exponential growth in cross - border economic and financial transactions has resulted from continuing innovation, deregulation, and globalization. as a result, we need to continually conduct surveys such as the cross border transactions survey, the foreign direct investment survey, the coordinated portfolio investment survey, and more recently, the survey on

amando m tetangco, jr : championing microentrepreneurship speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( the central bank of the philippines ), at the citi microentrepreneurship awards ( cma ) 2013 media launch, bangko sentral ng pilipinas, manila, 8 july 2013. * * * good afternoon everyone and welcome microentrepreneuship awards or cma. to the launching of the citi in the ten years of cma, we have met many microentrepreneurs who lifted themselves from poverty, transformed into net savers in banks, and served as catalysts for development in their respective communities. today, as we launch the 2013 cma, we look forward to hearing more inspiring stories of how access to collateral - free credit can be so empowering. indeed, we have witnessed the power of microfinance to improve lives across the country. as a member of the cma board of judges for 8 years now, i have witnessed how this awards program has also evolved. for instance, in response to the increasing difficulty of the board of judges to select the winners from such a rich field, the cma made a simple win - win decision - it developed new award categories. in addition, cma has made the prizes more meaningful : aside from cash rewards, winners also get insurance coverage, entrepreneurship training, and support for expanding their partnership networks. in other words, cma keeps pace with the developments in the microfinance industry. the development of the philippine microfinance industry has been phenomenal. ten years ago, microfinance was limited to microcredit provided by leading ngos, cooperatives and a handful of banks. since then, there has been a significant increase and diversification of microfinance players, products and services, as well as delivery channels. the bangko sentral ng pilipinas provides leadership in the development of the microfinance sector through appropriate policies, regulations and programs. so far so good. in fact, the philippines has been cited to have the best regulatory framework for the development of microfinance for four consecutive years now. as of march 2013, there were 186 banks with microfinance operations reaching out to more than 1 million clients. their combined savings have reached 8. 2 billion pesos, higher than the 8 billion pesos they have borrowed. this is