amando m tetangco, jr : turning challenges into opportunities – the key to sustainable growth speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the baiphil ’ s induction of officers, directors and committee chairpersons and the general membership meeting, makati, 15 july 2008. * * * distinguished officers and members of baiphil ( led by outgoing president dolly yuvienco and incoming president lydia king ), fellow bankers, co - workers in the bsp, special guests, good afternoon! i am pleased to join baiphil today on the induction of its new set of officers. i do welcome the opportunity to meet baiphil ’ s officers and members, as you count among the partners of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas in our continuing pursuit of reforms for a strong and vibrant banking system. in addition, baiphil has emerged as one of the bangko sentral ’ s consistent partners in corporate social responsibility projects that directly benefit our marginalized sector. among others, i remember that baiphil organized other financial industry associations in providing financial support, as well as sweat equity, for the bsp - st. paul gk village in paranaque city. you will be happy to know therefore that over the weekend, we turned over 16 gk units to new homeowners in our paranaque gk village. for this, ladies and gentlemen of the baiphil, you all deserve a long round of applause! salamat sa inyong tulong. to the newly inducted officers, directors and committee chairpersons, i offer my congratulations! we at the bangko sentral ng pilipinas look forward to working with you as our banking sector deals with domestic and global challenges. in my previous meetings with members of the financial community early this year, i discussed the outlook for the economy and the banking sector in 2008. i remember having said that the philippine economy is headed for a more challenging environment – one that is fraught with headwinds. indeed, our economy has to contend with “ rough patches ” emanating primarily from the turbulence in global financial markets, the slowdown in the us and other economies, and the unprecedented rise in global food and energy prices. while we continue to see challenges and risks arising from adverse global developments, we remain optimistic and confident that we can ride out this turbulence and sustain the economic

euro area as a whole. to address these concerns, a rotation model might be introduced that would restrict the number of national central bank governors with a vote at any point in time. the united states federal reserve uses a form of rotation for their federal open market committee. however, let me stress that i do not expect the substance of our discussions or decisions to change. the fact that we will all continue to participate in discussions, even if we have no vote, will facilitate this continuity. our focus will continue to be on the euro area as a whole. conclusions looking at the key issues currently facing us at the ecb, it seems to me that our new currency has rapidly ‘ grown up ’. our challenges are no longer those uniquely associated with the birth of the euro. instead, we are mostly concerned with issues that are challenges for central banks around the world. that doesn ’ t make our job easier, but does at least mean that we are moving out of uncharted territory. of course, financial market analysts and the media have also had to get used to the issues we are confronted with, and our style of dealing with those issues. i think that our coming of age as a currency is also reflected in the comments we now attract from analysts and the media. there seems to be increasing understanding about what we are trying to do and how we go about it. there is, naturally, always room for improvement. i hope that my comments today have made a contribution in this respect by adding to your understanding of how we go about monetary policy formulation within europe.