/ 4 bis central bankers'speeches pera presents an opportunity for small investors to grow their retirement funds. harnessing technology, pera can now be accessed digitally. this digital pera was launched as a one - stop shop digital experience for investor education, client onboarding, settlements, and investment monitoring. this platform allows investors to open, access, and invest in a range of funds through their pera account anytime, anywhere, here and abroad, through their mobile devices. creating a community of investors require industry players to adopt a financial inclusion mindset. and i urge you to take this to heart. but creating a community of investors requires a financially literate public and strong market conduct reinforced by sound consumer protection mechanisms. thus, financial education is a significant part of bsp ’ s efforts. we have entered into partnerships with the government and industry counterparts to institutionalize financial literacy training for target segments. these partnerships are facilitated through our national strategy for financial inclusion ( nsfi ). our financial education partnerships with institutions like the department of education ( deped ) can reach 29 million learners and over 800, 000 teachers ; and with the overseas workers welfare administration, 2. 3 million ofws and 14 million overseas filipinos. our financial education advocacy has also expanded to include digital literacy, which is timely given the massive digital shift driven by the pandemic. the objective of our digital literacy program is to build trust and confidence in the digital finance ecosystem by increasing the public ’ s knowledge and capability to reduce risks and vulnerabilities arising from use of digital financial services. to enrich our customer insights and as a way of bringing our services closer to the people, we have launched the bsp online buddy ( b. o. b. ). b. o. b. harnesses machine learning and artificial intelligence ( ai ) to answer queries and concerns from the public and improve efficiency in our consumer assistance mechanism ( cam ). that said, growing the market for investments to support financial inclusion requires a concerted effort among stakeholders. i encourage pru life uk investments to explore ways to enrich customer experience and bring its financial services closer to filipinos. i hope you take advantage of the opportunities our recent initiatives offer. in closing, let me quote the “ oracle of omaha ”, renowned investor warren buffet : “ never depend on a single income, make an investment to create a second source. ” through our recent initiatives, we aim to encourage more filipinos to try available investment products that can

in line with the recommendations recently made by the european council for all european countries in the framework of the review of governance in europe. a key element of the budgetary stability law for achieving fiscal discipline is transparency. the dissemination of data relating to the non - financial activity of the state is abundant, detailed and released with a relatively small lag. this is regrettably not the case for regional or local governments, which curtails the ability to control their activity in time and accountability. in my view, these shortcomings must urgently be redressed. at a time such as the present, a lack of transparency may lead to a lack of market confidence that takes the form of a further premium on the cost of financing. given the circumstances, all available instruments should be used to ensure compliance with the targets set. in particular, authorisation for regional and local governments to issue new debt should be conditional upon compliance with consolidation plans. a spending ceiling might even be considered for these governments, an instrument which has proven enormously useful in strengthening budgetary discipline in the case of the state. along the same lines, medium - term planning necessitating analysis of the structural dynamics of the various public revenue and spending items and enabling those areas where the scope for rationalisation and adjustment are greater to be detected may prove appropriate, especially when adjustment measures going beyond a temporary correction of imbalances are required. in this setting, the reform of the pension system currently under discussion is especially important. indeed, it goes beyond the major goal of ensuring the long - term sustainability of our pensions system in the face of the challenge of population ageing. this reform may also have significant and beneficial short - term effects on the credibility of the authorities ’ commitment to budgetary discipline and the ability to see through far - reaching structural reforms and favourably influence the risk premia on public debt. the promptness and ambitiousness of the reform are essential. a suitable combination of changes in certain parameters of the system, raising the legal retirement age, the minimum number of years necessary to qualify for a pension and the period over which the pension is calculated would help ease substantially the pressure on future public spending on pensions and resolve one of the spanish economy ’ s major outstanding problems. fiscal consolidation is an essential condition for ensuring future economic growth. the effort will no doubt be rewarded because it will place the spanish economy in a sounder position to anchor the recovery. its long - term effects will in any event prove more forceful if accompanied by