in the latter part of 2021. meanwhile, inflation further eased in december 2021. on an annual basis, inflation for food, 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and non - food items continued to slow down in december owing to easing supply constraints. however, prices of electricity, gas, and other fuels further increased amid elevated global prices of crude oil and coal. core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, likewise declined in december as supply - side price pressures abated. targeted non - monetary measures by the national government helped ease the pressures from supply - side factors. the consecutive quarters of positive year - on - year economic growth point to prospects of sustainable recovery. nevertheless, with recovery still in its nascent stage, the bsp is keen to maintain policy support for the economy. we will properly time our exit strategy as withdrawing support either too early or too late may have undesirable consequences to the economy. to date, the bsp ’ s liquidity - easing measures in response to the pandemic amount to 12 percent of gdp. the prevailing monetary policy stance is supported by a manageable inflation outlook and anchored inflation expectations. based on our latest baseline forecasts, inflation is seen to settle at 3. 4 percent in 2022 and 3. 2 percent in 2023, well within the official target range of 2. 0 to 4. 0 percent. however, risks to the inflation outlook appear to be slightly on the upside for 2022 but remain broadly balanced for 2023. over the near term, major upside risks include increase of global nonoil commodity prices due to strong global demand. additionally, we continue to monitor the developments surrounding typhoon odette to determine if it will have secondary effects on inflation. meanwhile, results of the bsp ’ s survey of private sector economists conducted in december 2021 showed steady mean inflation forecasts at 3. 5 percent for 2022 and 3. 1 percent for 2023. the domestic economy is expected to rebound stronger this year. the interagency development budget coordination committee ( dbcc ) sets its 2022 gdp growth assumption to a range of 7. 0 to 9. 0 percent from 5. 0 to 5. 5 percent last year, taking into account continued recovery prospects as more people get vaccinated and as more businesses rebound from the pandemic. meanwhile, overseas filipino remittances are seen to have reached a new record high of us $ 31. 7 billion in 2021 from

ph economy : harnessing the bright spots date : may 19, 2022 occasion : adbi featured speaker webinar series speaker : bsp governor benjamin e. diokno good day, everyone. it is my pleasure to join you today and share updates on the philippine economy. the philippines is well into the recovery process. after the pandemic - driven recession in 2020, the economy grew by 5. 7 percent last year and sustained its robust momentum with an 8. 3 percent growth in the first quarter of 2022. growth in the first quarter was broad - based. on the supply side, all sectors expanded, driven by industry at 10. 4 percent, followed by services at 8. 6 percent. on the expenditure side, growth was driven by private consumption which grew by 10. 1 percent. gross capital formation expanded by 20. 0 percent. growth of government final consumption was subdued at 3. 6 percent. the employment picture is close to pre - pandemic level. from a peak of 17. 6 percent in april 2020, unemployment rate is down to just 5. 8 percent in march this year. moreover, foreign direct investments grew 54. 2 percent to all - time high last year. in the first two months of the year, fdis grew by 8. 0 percent to usd1. 7 billion. manufacturing activity has also rebounded, with the purchasing managers ’ index hitting 54. 3 in april, the highest in over four years. both business sentiment and consumer outlook have improved. our business expectation survey show broad improvements in outlook for the coming months. all these came on the back of a whole - of - government approach to recovery. in tandem with the national government ’ s efforts, the bangko sentral ng pilipinas rolled out its own list of covid - response measures. first, we cut our policy rate by a cumulative 200 basis points to a record low of two percent, which helped stimulate provision of credit to productive activities. we also reduced our reserve requirement against deposit and deposit substitute liabilities. for universal - commercial banks and non - bank financial institutions with quasi - banking functions ( nbqbs ), we reduced the reserve requirement from 14 percent to 12 percent effective 3 april 2020. for thrift banks and rural / cooperative banks, we reduced it from 4 percent to 3 percent effective 31 july 2020. second, we extended time - bound liquidity support to the national government and purchased government securities to help finance its pandemic -