amando m tetangco, jr : developments in the philippine microfinance sector keynote message by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the 14th citi microentrepreneurship awards ( cma ), manila, 17 may 2016. * * * it is a pleasure to be with you today as we launch the 14th year of this nationwide microentrepreneurship swards with our partners – citi foundation, citi philippines and the microfinance council of the philippines, inc. ( mcpi ). yes, 14 years and counting. to me, what has kept this awards program relevant and meaningful year after year are the changes and enhancements that have been introduced in response to developments on the ground. for indeed, the environment for the development of the microfinance sector continues to improve based on sustained coordination and cooperation with industry players and stakeholders. this includes microentrepeneurs, banks, microfinance institutions, agencies of government, stakeholders from civil society, the private sector as well as multilateral institutions. industry figures mark our progress. in december 2002, for instance, there were 390, 635 microfinance borrowers from 119 banks. by 31 december 2015, the number of banks providing microfinance loans had increased by nearly 43 % to 170 while the number of borrowers had increased by 277 % to roughly 1. 47 million. overall, microfinance loans increased by 333 % from p2. 6 billion in 2002 to p11. 3 billion in 2015. if we base it on their savings, we can say that microfinance has improved the financial standing of these microentrepreneurs. together, they have accumulated savings of about p4. 5 billion as of december 2015. we have no comparative data for 2002 deposits ; compared however to the deposits of as december 2011, this represents a 22 % growth. ladies and gentlemen, we are fully aware that we can do so much more to lift more filipinos from poverty through microfinance. nevertheless, we are encouraged by global surveys that indicate that the philippines has one of the world ’ s best environment for promoting the quality of life of people through sustained development of the microfinance sector. for instance, in recognition of the bsp ’ s work, the economic intelligence unit ’ s 2015 global microscope on financial inclusion ranked the philippines

is awaiting senate confirmation for it to formally take - off. as a resolution vehicle, amcon is expected to soak in the toxic assets of the cbn - intervened banks and provide liquidity to them while facilitating their eventual re - capitalization. 7. while efforts are being made to stabilize the banking system and, indeed, the financial system and restore public confidence, the cbn is also focusing attention on ensuring that the financial system, in general, and the banking system, in particular, begin to serve the needs of the nigerian economy so as to make the nigerian economy to be resilient. this, the bank has been doing through ensuring the availability of long - term funds at an affordable interest rate to drive industrial activities and infrastructural developments in the country, having identified low industrial basis and huge infrastructural deficit as binding constraints on achieving nigeria ’ s economic development objectives. in a bid to address the problem of infrastructure deficit and enhance credit to the real sector, a total of n500. 0 billion fund was set up by the cbn made up of n300. 0 billion for power / infrastructure projects and for intervention in the aviation sector and n200. 0 billion for the refinancing / restructuring of banks ’ existing loan portfolios to manufacturers and small and medium enterprises ( smes ). a n200. 0 billion credit guarantee scheme for smes and n200. 0 billion commercial agricultural fund for the agricultural sector were also established. in addition, the cbn had recently released n150. 0 billion credit facility to the manufacturers at a fixed rate of 7 % through the bank of industry ( boi ) and deposit money banks. pencom to unlock pension assets for private sector – agra - unido – fund plan chain. 8. in addition, the bank has also collaborated with the securities and exchange commission ( sec ), the nigerian stock exchange ( nse ), fpls and ministry of finance to reduce the cost of transactions, particularly bond issues so as to diversify funding sources away from banks as well as attract more long term foreign investors into the sector. efforts are also being intensified towards strengthening regulatory and supervisory framework and enhancing monitoring of the operations of the deposit money banks ( dmbs ) to ensure that they remain safe, sound and healthy. these efforts are expected to ensure the sustenance of public confidence through the enforcement of appropriate disclosures and reinvigorating the policy of zero tolerance on all unprofessional