benjamin e diokno : the philippines beyond survival - becoming an economic outperformer post - pandemic speech by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the scb sovereign investor forum, 14 october 2020. * * * chief executive bill winters, other standard chartered bank officials and all attendees of this virtual roundtable, a pleasant day to all of you. my presentation is divided into three parts. first, i will discuss philippine macroeconomic updates. second, i will talk about how the country ’ s banking sector is faring. and third, i will share insights on where we see the domestic economy is headed post pandemic. first, macroeconomic updates … at this point, i can report that the worst is over. while we ’ re not out of the woods yet, there has been progress as the economy gradually opens up from the strict lockdown in march to june to less stringent quarantine measures. we ’ re learning to live with the virus. now, we ’ re at an inflection point. for instance : the purchasing managers ’ index ( pmi ) moved past the growth threshold of 50, settling at 50. 1 in september. net inflow of foreign direct investments already posted growth rates starting in may, with the latest at 35. 2 percent growth in july. this points to favorable job - generation prospects ahead. speaking of jobs, the unemployment rate improved from a record high of 17. 7 percent in april — which was the height of the lockdown — to 10 percent in july. contraction of imports slowed down from 65. 3 percent in april to 22. 6 percent in august. and, the decline in exports eased from 49. 9 percent in april to 18. 6 percent over the same period. major indicators suggest that financial markets are responding well to our policy responses. and, the peso is among the strongest currencies in this part of the world, recording a year - todate appreciation of 4. 36 percent against the us dollar as of october 13. with all these positive trends as backdrop, we expect an even firmer economic recovery by next year. based on official government projections, gdp will swing from a contraction of 4. 5 to 6. 6 percent this year to a growth of 6. 5 to 7. 5 percent next year. the international monetary fund ’ s latest gdp forecast for the philippines

also in recent resolutions of the european parliament. the ecb has also emphasised that technical authorities need to be represented in regulatory committees and that any new arrangements for financial stability should draw on the technical expertise at central banks and supervisory agencies. all these points are reflected in the proposals endorsed by the ecofin council in october. now the crucial phase is beginning when the ability of the new arrangements to meet the high expectations they are raising will be tested in practice. the measure of success will be whether the overall rulebook, with which financial institutions operating throughout the eu have to comply, becomes more homogeneous across countries. this will require a fine re - balancing of primary and secondary community legislation and national rulebooks, which should be conducted in a transparent manner by the committees to be set up under the new supervisory regime, paying careful attention to the costs of compliance. the review of the new arrangements that was requested by the european parliament will offer an appropriate tool for checking the progress made. let me conclude by highlighting that supervisory authorities and central banks should step up information sharing and develop joint assessments. this will also allow the effectiveness of the new arrangements in supporting financial stability in the single market to be tested.