felipe m medalla : creating a resilient financial system amid interconnected risks - balancing growth and inflation while minimizing disruptions speech by mr felipe m medalla, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the release of the 2022 financial stability report, manila, 9 january 2023. * * * good afternoon, everyone, especially all my colleagues in government. and it is still not too late to say, " happy new year! " as we release the 2022 financial stability report, i am pleased to note that the economy has demonstrated its resilience despite a year of challenges and global turmoil. over the past few months, we have returned to some form of normalcy. of course, the " new normal " is quite different from the " old normal, " but it is still normal : businesses are opening ; the malls are full again that parking has become a challenge ; students are trooping back to schools ; consumers are spending more ; and tourist arrivals are increasing. what we have today, some of it is called " pent - up demand " or " revenge spending. " the people who did not buy cars because they were not needed during the lockdowns are now, of course, catching up. but while we cherish all these positive strides, we cannot overlook the challenges to the global market and, of course, geopolitics. indeed, if you listen to the most pessimistic people, they are thinking, " what if something happens to iran? what if north korea becomes a problem again? what if globalization, as we know it, is completely gone? " we have terms like reshoring and friend - shoring. where you locate is now also affected by geopolitics. moreover, inflation remains a problem worldwide. in our case, as the joke goes, " sibuyas could now serve as your earrings. " as the authorities respond with higher policy rates, which are necessary to control second - order effects, what we in the central bank want is that the supply - side effects do not generate inflationary expectations that make inflation keep rising - even after the supply shocks have gone. there are risks to the real economy, which, thankfully, we [ the economy ] were able to absorb, and we do believe we will be able to absorb this [ impact of the bsp's rate hikes ] as well. but these spill

programs now help educate a broad spectrum of the population including teachers, migrant workers, and farmers. we have made substantial progress, but there is still work to do. as highlighted in the bsp activities during the visit of the united nations secretary general's special advocate for inclusive finance for development, queen maxima of the netherlands, we are focusing on making digital payments more affordable. so affordable in fact, that people will make it a habit to use digital payments. as you can see, we are trying to go digital when it comes to financial inclusion. open finance we are advocating open finance, particularly in the area of financial health. open finance facilitates consent - driven sharing of customer data among financial institutions and third - party providers. it also gives customers more access and more choices when it comes to financial services. we believe that open finance holds significant potential to extend the reach of financial inclusion. it will do by fostering innovations in financial services. at the center of open finance is the customer who must be served and protected at all times. this is why we, at the bsp, are implementing our financial consumer protection framework. this would ensure that the rights and needs of consumers always comes first and that their trust and confidence in the financial system is preserved. so, thank you, our partners, for making this event possible and for advancing financial inclusion in markets like ours. i hope you find your time in manila rewarding. magandang umaga po at mabuhay tayong lahat. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches