ladies and gentlemen, our sustained efforts at capacity building has empowered us to be effective at monetary policy and bank supervision. we have strengthened our strategic planning and budgeting processes to continue sharpening our vision. we have also sustained our best program by sending the best and the brightest of our staff to the best universities here and abroad, to ensure excellence and a global outlook among the future leaders of the bangko sentral. we want them to think big, to think new, and to think ahead while being immersed in the deep structure of their creative potential. we have persevered in our wellness programs to keep our staff going strong and motivated. we have streamlined our recruitment process by opening our doors more widely to promising prospective employees. we have also continued to review our benefit package to ensure that we are able to attract and retain our most valuable resource : our professional, competent, and dedicated staff. as we review our score card for another year of central banking in the philippines, i would like to believe that we have provided the leadership and the vision for maintaining macroeconomic stability yesterday, today and tomorrow. we continue to receive recognition for this and we continue to raise the bar further. for instance, i am very pleased that 17 more departments and offices will be receiving iso certifications next week, proof of our sustained program to align our processes with international standards. palakpakan po natin ang mga bagong iso - recipients natin! ladies and gentlemen of the bangko sentral. our pledged stewardship of the philippine monetary and financial system is of central value to the country's economic development. we have kept prices low, interest rates reasonable, the financial system sound and stable, and the payments and settlement system functioning efficiently. these are key elements in the resilient performance of the philippine economy. what more should be done? well, it is not enough that we succeeded last year and the years before that. for as long as millions of filipinos continue to live in poverty, we cannot rest we cannot stop. as we continue our work to achieve our mandate, we need to ensure that we possess the expertise and competence in all phases of central banking ; we need to develop greater sensitivity to signals which we should answer with better and more responsive actions ; we need to be swift - footed in adjusting to a dynamic environment ; and we need to further fine tune our ability to plan ahead. we also need to work on amendments to the new central bank act ( r. a. no.

with nothing better to do. ” 7 nor would norman necessarily have ingratiated himself to today ’ s army of bank economists. “ you are not here to tell us what to do, but to explain why we have done it ” is the way norman rebuked the bank ’ s chief economist of the day. 8 roberts, reading and skene ( 2009 ). john, roberts and weeken ( 2012 ). boyle ( 1968 ) p105. ahamed ( 2009 ) p233. bis central bankers ’ speeches norman saw the bank ’ s role in expansive terms, as provider not just of emergency help but as builder of infrastructure and supporter of industry. the bank became part of the post - war reconstruction effort. having spent 200 years tending to its back garden, the bank began to explore pastures new. to take one example, in 1928 the lancashire cotton industry was on its knees. these problems risked ricocheting back to the financial system, with at least two of the big five uk banks up to their neck in cotton. 9 a plan was conceived involving consolidating the industry into a lancashire textile corporation. this was to be financed with debt and shares issued and supported by – you ’ ve guessed it – the bank of england. it was a bold and cunning plan. unfortunately, it flopped. the share issue by the corporation in 1931 was a resounding failure, leaving the underwriter with a large chunk of the shares. the bank ended up having to support the market. 10 it, too, found itself up to its neck in cotton. undaunted, the stage had nonetheless been set for the bank ’ s on - going involvement in financial infrastructure. this came not a moment too soon. in the immediate post - war period, the uk faced pressing financial infrastructure problems – the so - called “ macmillan gaps ”. these gaps referred the inability of small firms to finance themselves with long - term loans. if these gaps sound strangely familiar, then they should. the post - war bank set about closing these macmillan gaps with gusto. in 1945 it set up two new financing entities – the finance corporation for industry ( fci ) and the industrial and commercial finance corporation ( icfc ). these were financially supported by banks and institutional investors, providing a platform for the supply of longer term funding and venture capital finance to small firms. in 1973, the two corporations combined to form finance for industry ( ffi ). during the early 1980s, the company