amando m tetangco, jr : improving lives through better access to credit speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the launching of e - rediscounting in mindanao, davao city, 20 july 2007. * * * maayong udto sa inyong tanan! honrable members of the monetary board ; fellow bankers ; business leaders of mindanao as represented by the chamber of commerce and industry, the small and medium enterprise development council and micro - finance council ; special guests ; government officials who are here today, mayor lobrigat ; my colleagues at the bangko sentral ng pilipinas ; friends ; ladies and gentlemen – i am very pleased to lead the launching here today of the bsp ’ s electronic or e - rediscounting system. only a few weeks ago at the mindanao peace and security summit in cagayan de oro city the president identified two key priority programs for mindanao, which is particularly relevant to our program today. the first priority is to increase the funding for key government economic programs in mindanao. the second is to strengthen the institutions of government to promote economic prosperity in the region. given this, the launching of the bangko sentral ’ s e - rediscounting system here in mindanao is indeed very timely and appropriate. with this electronic loan refinancing facility, we expand and facilitate access to credit of countryside areas in mindanao where there are micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as exporters. this should stimulate economic activities in the local communities here. so far, the seven - month track record of our e - rediscounting system has been positive. since its initial launching in manila in december, the number of participating banks in our erediscounting system has increased from 88 to 129 while the total loans processed and released during this period has reached an unprecedented level of over p14 billion. the importance that the monetary board attaches to this initiative is clearly demonstrated by the presence of our monetary board members in this launching today and let me acknowledge them : first, mbm vicente valdepenas, jr., mbm raul boncan, mbm juanita amatong, mbm alfredo antonio, and earlier today mbm nelly favis - villafuerte was also here. the bsp top management is here with us as well today

above a certain threshold for an extended period, once again challenging previous findings. conclusion let me conclude. recent research, to be presented today, suggests that the slope of the phillips curve may depend on the inflation environment, with the curve potentially becoming steeper when inflation is high. the evidence is still scarce, however, and more research is needed. moreover, numerous questions remain unanswered. how high and how persistent does inflation need to be for the frequency of price changes to increase significantly? how would this affect the strength of the selection effect? and could real rigidities become weaker, for example because real wages adjust faster or price - setters pay more attention to inflation? improving our grasp of these issues is essential to foster our understanding of the effects of monetary policy. research is the backbone of good policymaking – and we count on you helping us to advance our knowledge of these fundamental issues, which helps us to deliver on our mandate of price stability. thank you very much for your attention, and i wish you an interesting and productive conference. 1. sims, c. a. ( 2012 ), “ statistical modeling of monetary policy and its effects ”, american economic review, vol. 102, no 4, pp. 1187 - 1205. 2. there are studies suggesting that the slope of the structural phillips curve may be steeper. see hazell, j. et al. ( 2020 ), “ the slope of the phillips curve : evidence from u. s. states ”, nber working papers, no 28005, national bureau of economic research ; mcleay, m. and tenreyro, s. ( 2020 ), “ optimal inflation and the identification of the phillips curve, ” in eichenbaum, m. s., hurst, e. and parker, j. a., nber macroeconomics annual 2019, volume 34, national bureau of economic research ; and jørgensen, p. and lansing, k. ( 2022 ), “ anchored inflation expectations and the slope of the phillips curve ”, working paper series, no 2019 - 27, federal reserve bank of san francisco. 3. christiano, l. j., eichenbaum, m. and evans, c. l. ( 2005 ), “ nominal rigidities and the dynamic effects of a shock to monetary policy ”, journal of political economy, vol. 113, no 1, pp. 1 - 45 ; smets,