nestor a espenilla, jr : ready in the age of great convergence speech by mr nestor a espenilla, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the security bank economic forum, 21 november 2017. * * * sbc chairman alberto villarosa ; president and ceo alfonso salcedo, jr. ; department of finance undersecretary gil beltran ; fellow speakers / panelists, esteemed guests ; ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. it is a pleasure to be here at security bank ‘ s annual economic forum, to discuss developments and prospects in the global and domestic economy and to take stock of challenges ahead. at present, four key financial sector issues seem top of mind. first, is uncertainty over the pace, timing, and magnitude of tightening of global financial conditions. the potentially divergent monetary policies of advanced economies ( aes ) would likely trigger bouts of volatility in the financial markets. second, is peso volatility with specific concern over its possible sharp depreciation. third, is the perceived risk of overheating in the economy. and fourth is the challenge of disruption brought about by fintech. the use of digital technologies challenges the status quo, 1 even making an impact on monetary policy. anchors of stability we can rely on several anchors of stability to manage these pressing issues. the philippines sustained its robust macroeconomic fundamentals. it is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with 75 consecutive quarters of uninterrupted and increasingly broad - based growth. annual growth has been running above 6 percent in the last five years. for the third quarter of this year, gdp picked up to 6. 9 percent. prospects remain bright as growth is predicted to be between 6. 5 and 7. 5 percent this year and 7. 0 and 8. 0 percent over the medium - term. growth will be increasingly investment - led as government and private sector investments ramp up. the stable inflation environment provides support to domestic demand. inflation has averaged 3. 2 percent in the past ten months, in line with the 2017 target. latest baseline forecasts show it will likely settle around the middle of government ’ s target range of 2 – 4 percent in 2017 to 2019. we are ready to deploy the full array of our monetary policy toolkit to deal with possible market volatility as policy settings evolve and normalize in the us and other advanced economies.

for instance, our qr - ph system ; qr p2m facility, which allows person - to - merchant payments ; and, of course, our paleng - qr ph plus, where payments to market vendors, bicycle drivers, and jeepney drivers could now be done through your cellphone. now, of course, nothing is more frustrating than when your bank does not include one of your credit cards or one of your billers is not on its list of payees. now that is being answered, as well, with all the other innovations that are happening because of this. of course, my colleague from up [ university of the philippines ], [ department of trade and industry secretary ] fred [ pascual ], talks about all the other things that could happen because of this [ digitalization of smes ], including lending that is not collateral based. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches these are the things we all enjoy, and we look forward to even more. and that is why the success of speed has the potential to promote a more inclusive digital economy toward, as we learn from the pandemic, a more resilient philippine economy that promotes a higher quality of life for many, if not most, filipinos. as i said, numbers, not just the size of assets, count. so, let us all go aboard and hop on to this full - speed - ahead vehicle called speed. thank you, and we look forward to many great things from project speed. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches