banking supervision. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches let me now turn to our immediate challenge, that of inflation. while still in the process of recovering from the pandemic, we were hit by an unusual confluence of supply shocks. we were hit, for example, by a spike in global prices of fertilizer – so not just food prices and not just oil prices.. this was due, of course, to the sanctions on [ shipping from ] belarus and russia. in response, we tightened monetary policy and we tightened aggressively, the way an inflation - targetting central bank would. we worried about expectations, and we worried about second - round effects. today, we're beginning to see tantalizing fruits of our efforts. headline inflation seems to have peaked and looks to be on its way to our target range of 2 to 4 percent. our monetary board, our deputy governor francis dakila and his team are to be thanked for this. nonetheless, it's too soon to declare victory. core inflation remains high. there are still upside risks to inflation – for example, risks in the form of el nino and further supply shocks. we will wait and see. we will analyze the data as they arrive, and that analysis will decide monetary policy down the road. the next challenge is the payments system. for the sake of efficiency, we seek the magic of digitalization. we want this magic to also help with financial inclusion. we're making some progress. at last count, 42 percent of retail payments were in digital form. this is up from just 1 percent ten years ago. that proportion should hit our target of 50 percent this year. at this stage, we've given licenses to 258 digital payment providers. over time, we expect competition and network effects to result in a system where the most innovative, efficient and responsible providers truly respond to the needs of customers. this digitalization has been a pathway to financial inclusion. more filipinos are now part of the formal financial system. in our financial inclusion survey in 2021, 56 percent of [ adults ] in the country had a bank account, a significant increase from just 23 percent in 2017. we're confident we will reach our target of 70 percent by this year. we're not stopping here. these accounts should provide the opportunity for people to build savings buffers, invest in their future and more actively participate in the digital economy. programs like paleng - qr help digitalize crucial value

percent in 2016, making us one of the fastest growing economies in asia. this is not the first time that you have partnered with us in our financial inclusion efforts. most lgus here have also joined the bsp - initiated credit surety fund or csf which enables cooperatives without sufficient collateral to access bank loans. we have made great strides in this area. we now have 45 csfs in 30 provinces and 15 cities nationwide. as of 31 december 2016, cumulative approved loans for 16, 310 beneficiaries have reached php 3. 25 billion. progress in the program ’ s implementation could not have been possible without your help. salamat sa inyo! moving forward, the philippines is expected to sustain its growth momentum based on our strong economic fundamentals and domestic drivers of growth. we hope that similar to csfs, the krn will enhance our economic prospects as more financially knowledgeable citizens participate in 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches the benefits development brings. ladies and gentlemen. the english philosopher francis bacon famously said “ knowledge is power. ” and to this, american computer chip inventor robert noyce added that “ knowledge shared is power multiplied. ” the launch of the knowledge resource network here in metro manila is the beginning. we look forward to the future with confidence that our partnerships under the krn will generate multiple benefits for our people. maraming salamat at mabuhay po tayong lahat! 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches