ben s bernanke : community development in challenging times speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the federal reserve community affairs research conference, arlington, virginia, 29 april 2011. the original speech, which contains various links to the documents mentioned, can be found on the us federal reserve system ’ s website. * * * as always, i ’ m pleased to join you at the federal reserve ’ s biennial community affairs research conference. this meeting brings together researchers, community development professionals, and public - sector officials to explore how best to strengthen struggling communities. needless to say, that endeavor is more crucial than ever. the past few years have been very difficult. weak economic conditions at the national level have translated into hardships in many communities at the same time that communities have fewer resources available for stabilization and revitalization. considerable good work is going on nonetheless, and i will offer a few examples of that today. at the national level, the economy is recovering at a moderate pace. in particular, the labor market has been gradually improving and the unemployment rate has declined somewhat. but unemployment remains quite high, particularly among minorities, the young, and those with less education. what ’ s more, long - term unemployment remains at historically high levels. nearly half of the unemployed have been out of work for six months or more. the housing market is also holding back the recovery. the foreclosure rate remains very high, and many homeowners who have avoided foreclosure find themselves “ under water, ” meaning their mortgage debt exceeds the value of their homes. obviously, the problems in the labor market and the housing market are not unrelated. in particular, lost income from unemployment is causing many families to fall behind on their mortgage payments. the challenges to communities as families have struggled, so have their communities. in some areas, for example, high foreclosure rates have produced significant numbers of vacant properties, depressing surrounding home prices, attracting crime, and creating financial burdens for local governments. thus, some community development groups now are simply trying to hold onto past progress that they have made in building up the physical infrastructure and human capital of their communities, while others have lost ground and are beginning the process of rebuilding. while the scale of the problems has been exceptional, many of the problems themselves are not new for lower - income families and communities that were already struggling. people who were vulnerable to begin with –

amando m tetangco, jr : vigilance amid stability and growth speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( the central bank of the philippines ), at the annual reception for the banking community, manila, 18 january 2013. * * * distinguished guests from the banking community, the government, philippine business, the diplomatic corps, multilateral institutions, ngos, the media, special guests, good evening and a happy new year. the bangko sentral ng pilipinas and its monetary board welcome all of you to this traditional annual reception for the banking community. this annual ritual provides us the opportunity to come together to review the past and to share our roadmap moving forward. but first, allow me to call on my co - hosts tonight, the other members of the monetary board : finance secretary cesar purisima, mbm alfredo antonio, ignacio bunye, peter favila, felipe medalla, and armando suratos. as you may have noticed, the high - rise bsp building behind us greets everyone “ masaganang bagong taon. ” in english, this means wishes for “ a prosperous new year. ” our collective wish, here at the bsp, is for balanced, sustainable and inclusive growth that brings prosperity to filipinos. we at the bsp believe that if we unite and work together, this is not impossible. ladies and gentlemen. while global headwinds continued to challenge economies around the world home - grown sources of resilience enabled the philippine economy to grow with a 6. 5 % increase in gdp in the first nine months in 2012. this surpassed growth projections and earned for the country the distinction of posting one of the fastest growth rates in asia. this strong economic growth was achieved with inflation remaining low and stable. at 3. 2 % in 2012, inflation was well within the target range set by the national government. this tells us that our monetary policy settings remain supportive of non - inflationary growth. at the same time, the philippines continued to have a strong external position with, based on the latest figures, a balance of payments surplus of $ 9. 2 billion for full - year 2012 and gross international reserves at $ 83. 8 billion as of year - end. this continues to enhance confidence in our ability to meet potential shocks. another source of resilience for our economy is our strong and responsive banking sector. as of november