##tech to address fintech developments and their attendant risks. the rise of digitization also forces us to focus on the third pillar of central banking ( which admittedly, has not received as much attention in the past! ). with digitalization and technological disruption, the payment system is now seen as an essential tool for the effective implementation of monetary policy and as a critical infrastructure of a stable and inclusive financial system. these are all exciting prospects. allow me to talk about the bsp ’ s three mandates in this 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches context. evolution in the pursuit of price stability the bsp ’ s constant commitment to its primary mandate of price stability has led to managed and stable inflation in an environment of high economic growth. the philippines has achieved uninterrupted growth for the past 77 consecutive quarters despite domestic and global economic challenges. for six consecutive years ( in 2009 to 2014 ), as well as in 2017, inflation settled within the national government ’ s inflation target range. amid this resilience, the philippine economy is being tested by external headwinds emanating from the normalization of monetary policy by advanced economies, and the brewing trade tensions among key economies. these exert depreciation pressure on the peso even as the flexible exchange rate policy continues to be a stabilizing mechanism against unsustainable imbalances. the overall external position of the domestic economy remains resilient. the sustained resilience of foreign direct investments, overseas filipino ( of ) remittances, and business process outsourcing ( bpo ) receipts have provided additional buffers to the domestic economy. our external debt metrics have also improved as exhibited in the continued decline in the external debt to gdp ratio. these external transactions yielded positive results in terms of comfortable gross international reserves of us $ 76. 9 billion as of july 2018, covering 7. 4 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income. in the meantime, the peso continues to reflect day - to - day market conditions. over the last ten years, the peso has generally maintained its external price competitiveness against baskets of currencies of all trading partners and trading partners in advanced and developing economies. on the domestic front, the country ’ s inflation environment is confronted by a confluence of supply - side factors. this posed a challenge as monetary policy instruments more effectively address demand - side driven shocks. this was the case early this year when economic data suggested that an adjustment in

to the bsp. we have systems in place for the electronic transmission of reports to us not only by the big commercial banks but the thrift and rural banks as well. in order to better appreciate the reports and data gathered from the banks and utilize these to supervise them in a more proactive way, the bsp embarked on a data warehousing project. to fully automate the project, the bsp is procuring an integrated financial reporting portal system that will allow bsp - supervised banks to send / upload reports to bsp and retrieve / download processed reports from bsp using mutually acceptable secured channels of communication. reaching out to the rural areas an area that your association may be of help to us in this regard is encouraging through your education campaigns and drives the smaller thrift and rural banks to be more e - savvy. there are over 700 rural banks scattered all over the country but only about half have email facilities and about the same number have in - house developed systems. you may want to consider e - enabling the regional areas as there is already a heavy concentration of applications in the mega - metro manila area and other major cities. for the bsp ’ s part we developed the “ integrated regional information system ” ( iris ) which allows the branches of banks in the countryside to conduct electronic transactions with bsp such as cash deposit, withdrawal, fx purchase, peso exchange, and rediscounting of loans and payments. iris has been implemented in three bsp regional offices and 5 regional units, and is expected to be fully deployed in the remaining bsp branches by the 3rd quarter of 2006. it risk management with the increasing applications of technology to banking services comes increased exposure of banks to technology - related risks, including operational, reputational, and strategic risks. to help mitigate these, the bsp recently put out guidelines for technology risk management. the bsp established these guidelines to ensure that the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and effectively measure, monitor and control these risks are in place. anti - money laundering efforts in addition to risk management, you may also partner with financial institutions in the anti - money laundering efforts of the government. under the anti money laundering act, as amended ( amla ), covered institutions, i. e., financial institutions that are supervised by the bsp, the sec and the insurance commission, are required to electronically report to the amlc all “ covered and suspicious transactions ”. while the amlc has established its