mall. by the way, my classmate, bobby claudio, will tell you about this - the power of the malls. when i talk to foreigners, they marvel at how many people are in our malls. you explain to them, the traffic is [ like ] this. [ they ask, ] " what is that [ volume ]? [ is it ] per year? " no, that is per month. the real problem is growth - sooner or later, unless met by rising exports - grinds to a halt because the current account deficit will get larger. so, the real question is : how do we attract manufacturing fdi [ foreign direct investment ]? by the way, it is not a problem in banking. the philippines is the primary source when it comes to global services. for 1 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches instance, jpmorgan has 20, 000 employees here. if we can have the same success somewhere else [ in different sectors of the economy ] - mining has already been mentioned - then growth will continue. fortunately, we do not have to step on the brakes too soon because the central bank fx [ foreign exchange ] reserves are high. in other words, if we get a bad year or two, the central bank can actually sell some of its fx reserves. well, of course, if it keeps doing that, then the central bank fx reserves fall, confidence in the currency will fall, and we will have all sorts of problems that we have had historically. by the way, i started too soon. i should greet all my friends. [ pcci president ] george barcelon. we graduated the same year, but i did not have grade 7 and kinder. addressing the inflation question your [ pcci's ] press release is that " the government must act immediately to reduce inflation in the first quarter of 2023. " from what i see, a lot of important things are already happening. for instance, the importation of sugar took a long time, but it is now finally coming. by the way, in the case of sugar, all the protectionist policies have been embedded there for decades. so, it is not easy [ to reverse ]. of course, one can say that it is about time that we review [ our sugar importation policy ]. when you have to close bottling plants because of the shortage of sugar, what you have is a problem. the economy is growing rapidly. and if you say " do not import

, and harrison shieh. their paper analyzes macroeconomic data from advanced and emerging economies in the 1980s and 2020s to highlight differences in how u. s. monetary policies have impacted emerging markets in these two distinct periods. the second paper in this session, by francisco legaspe and liliana varela, will show how country - specific risks, such as political uncertainty and risk on debt repayment explain excess returns from investing in local currency assets in latam countries. finally, a policy panel featuring elias albagli, jean - marc natal, boris hofmann, and ricardo reis will offer insights into the future of interest rates and their implications for monetary policy in emerging economies. 5. acknowledgements i would like to especially thank atif mian for being the external organizer of this conference, as well as locals sofia bauducco, mariana garcia and lucciano villacorta for putting togethersuch a wonderful program. i also thank all the speakers and contributors and look forward to the conference volume that we will publish in some months with its formatted contents. let me finish by thanking maria jose reyes, constanza martinelli, carolina besa, daniela gaete, daphne guiloff, pablo barros, and both the public affairs department and the economic research department of the central bank of chile for all their invaluable help managing the logistics of organizing this annual conference. i wish you a fruitful discussion over the next two days. thank you. 5 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches