into their operations. the central bank is also among the early investors in the bank for international settlements ’ green bond fund and the asian green bond fund. amid the pandemic, the government continued to pursue game - changing reforms that help make the philippines a preferred investment destination. for instance, it pursued the passage of the corporate recovery and tax incentives for enterprises or create, which cut corporate income taxes to make it more competitive with our asean neighbors and rationalized the fiscal incentives system. in addition, three new landmark laws further open the philippines to foreign investors : the amendments to the retail trade liberalization act, the foreign investments act, and the public services act. these game - changing reforms will help stimulate the economy, generate more jobs, and allow for the exchange of skills and technology with the country ’ s foreign partners. the duterte administration invested much more in infrastructure under the “ build, build, build ” program than what previous governments have invested - around double the percentage of gdp over the past few years compared to the past few decades from 2016 to 2020, infrastructure spending as a percent of gdp averaged 4. 6 percent. this increased to 5. 8 percent in 2021. these numbers tell the story of the government ’ s commitment to improve mobility and create a better investment climate. taking all these into consideration, we are optimistic about the philippine economy. we expect the economy to grow by 7. 0 to 8. 0 percent this year and by 6. 0 to 7. 0 percent next year and beyond. that said, like the rest of the world, the philippines faces risks to its growth outlook and these risks include the possible deterioration in the covid situation and a prolonged russia - ukraine conflict. while the imf has cut its global economic growth forecast in its april 2022 world economic outlook, it raised its gdp growth projection for the philippines from 6. 3 percent to 6. 5 percent this year. on covid - 19, the philippines is managing risks of potentially new variants emerging through sentinel surveillance and protecting the vulnerable population through accelerated vaccination. as of may 17, 68. 8 million out of the target 90 million filipinos have already been fully vaccinated. on the ukraine - russia conflict, there ’ s an impact to domestic prices, but we expect inflation to remain manageable. based on the most recent bsp forecasts, inflation this year could average 4. 6 percent. that is above our target range of 2. 0 to 4. 0 percent, but

banca and banca popolare di vicenza were wound up using public funds. is this a failure for banking union? no. quite the contrary, in fact. the ecb, in its role as banking supervisor, identified the problems ahead of time and put pressure on the banks to strengthen their capital, which they did on several occasions, and to find a buyer. once these options were exhausted, the ecb declared that these two banks were failing or likely to fail, in order to trigger the mechanism for winding them down. the decisions regarding their liquidation and the use of public funds do not fall under our remit, but everything was done in accordance with european rules. of course, there are lessons to be learnt, but let ‘ s not lose sight of the bigger picture. from now on, it will be possible to close down banks when they are no longer viable. this is a massive cultural shift in europe – for a long time the assumption had been that all banks had to be kept afloat, including those that were no longer viable. this mindset contributed to the weakness of the european banking sector, which currently has too many institutions. it will have to consolidate. will the brexit negotiations harm investment in the euro area? brexit is bad news for everyone, but it was the british people ’ s choice, and its economic impact is far less significant for us than it is for them. political uncertainty is diminishing on the continent, which helps boost investment, but in the united kingdom the opposite seems to be the case. it is for the british people to choose their destiny outside of the european union, but one thing must be clear : this cannot call into question the coherence of the european project and the integrity of its single market – a legal space in which the common rules are respected and consumers and investors are protected. the purpose of the european institutions is to protect that integrity. and that holds true if the negotiations fail, which is sadly a possibility. with its economy battered by year after year of crisis, what could be the future drivers of growth in greece? that is the issue the greek government can now tackle. the agreement reached by the eurogroup in june isn ’ t perfect, because it doesn ’ t provide a clear answer to the issue of greek debt sustainability, but it will enable the economy to stabilise and investment to return. if political uncertainty and uncertainties around the implementation of the aid package disappear, i am sure