the fourth straight month of growth after several months of contraction. the effectiveness of our monetary interventions could also be seen in the sustained decline in domestic market interest rates. by october, the 91 - day t - bill rate as of september 2021 fell by more than 200 basis points over the same period. in addition, the central bank suspended certain online banking charges and temporarily waived fees for applications for electronic payments and financial services and philpass fund transfer transactions to provide continued access to financial services during this time. during the pandemic, we even put a cap on credit card charges to ease the financial burden on consumers. under circular no. 1098, we maintained the maximum interest rate or finance 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches charge on unpaid outstanding credit card balance at 2 percent per month or 24 percent per year. the monthly add - on rates that credit card issuers can charge on installment loans is retained at a maximum rate of 1 percent. beyond targeted monetary policy measures, the bsp implemented extraordinary liquidity measures to help the national government finance its covid - 19 response. as a former budget secretary under three administrations, i fully appreciate the predicament of the national government as it faces this unprecedented crisis. as the economy contracted, revenues plummeted. at the same time, with the need to build healthcare facilities, deploy more health care workers, purchase more medical equipment and vaccines, distribute food and cash assistance to a great majority of quarantined filipinos, the national government had to ramp up public spending. as a result, the budget deficit increased from 3. 4 percent of gdp in 2019 to 7. 5 percent in 2020. as of end - september, our budget deficit as a share of gdp stood at 8. 3 percent. the ultimate challenge is how the national government can finance its soaring budget deficit without raising its costs of borrowing, which in turn could increase domestic interest rates. as an extraordinary measure deployed only during extraordinary times, the bsp extended php540 billion ( approximately us $ 10. 8 billion ) in direct provisional advances to the national government. in addition, we remitted php23 billion ( approximately us $ 460 million ) in dividends to augment the government ’ s pandemic war chest. to date, through its various measures, bsp has injected php2. 3 trillion in liquidity into the financial system. this is equivalent to nearly 13 percent of the size of the philippine economy. but while we have deployed extraordinary measures in response

is also attributable to a number of temporary factors. these include the absence of the contribution made by major international sporting events and the weather - related production losses at hydroelectric power plants. an analysis of all the available economic indicators points to momentum weakening slightly but remaining positive. the favourable development on the labour market also continued. employment increased strongly in the third quarter. the unemployment rate declined again through to november and now stands at 2. 4 %. the companies surveyed by our delegates in october and november expect staff numbers to rise in the coming months. they also report increasing difficulties in finding specialist employees. we are now anticipating slightly lower gdp growth of around 2. 5 % for 2018 as a whole. as in other countries, economic momentum in switzerland is likely to weaken somewhat in 2019. we are expecting a rise of around 1. 5 % in gdp for the coming year. overall, capacity utilisation in the swiss economy should remain high. the business representatives surveyed by our delegates are also confident about 2019. risks remain to the downside, as is the case with the global economy. in particular, a sharp slowdown internationally would quickly spread to switzerland. exchange rates, inflation expectations and interest rates let me now move on to address the monetary conditions – that is to say, exchange rates and interest rates – as well as inflation expectations. as i mentioned at the start, the swiss franc depreciated slightly in the third quarter. overall in 2018, however, it has appreciated by 3. 5 % against the currencies of our trading partners, largely driven by a weaker euro. analysis of the exchange rate situation as a whole indicates that the swiss franc remains highly valued. the real trade - weighted exchange rate, which is relevant for the economy, is still high. given the economic and political uncertainties, there is also the risk of major and sudden movements in the exchange rate, which would significantly alter monetary conditions. we therefore continue to regard the situation on the foreign exchange market as fragile. this leads me to our inflation expectations, as derived from surveys of households, companies and forecasting institutions. it is our mandate to ensure price stability while taking due account of economic developments. we equate price stability with a rise in consumer prices page 3 / 4 berne, 13 december 2018 thomas jordan news conference of less than 2 % per annum. with short - term expectations just under 1 % and longer - term expectations slightly above, inflation expectations are firmly anchored within the range consistent