can do. the program “ banking on your future ” is therefore an important component of our economic and financial education program. the support of the banking sector for this program is essential as you are the practitioners and therefore the ideal mentors to work with the youth regarding financial education. the key is knowledge sharing. we do look forward to banks and its branches to get involved in their neighbor elementary schools to mount parallel financial education activities and to reward best performing schools and students with prizes including savings account. the idea is to make it hip and cool for our students to have savings account that they can nurture and grow. this way, they develop the habit of saving on a regular basis. aasahan po nang ating mga kabataan ang programang ito, kasama na ang ating mga bisitang mag - aaral mula sa aurora a. quezon elementary school. there are about 38, 000 elementary schools there are about 7, 000 bank offices and branches. i hope we can cover most, if not all of these schools. ladies and gentlemen. the 16th anniversary of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas also coincides with the celebration of national savings consciousness week. for this year, our theme is particularly appropriate : “ kinabukasan siguruhin, pag - iimpok ugaliin. ” it is only fitting therefore that together we launch the program “ banking on your future ” on this auspicious day. mabuhay ang philippine banking sector! mabuhay ating mga kabataan! maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat.

benjamin e diokno : staying on track in 2020 - sustaining positive ph growth inflation dynamics speech by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the manila times 11th business forum, makati city, 3 march 2020. * * * the manila times president and ceo, mr. dante ang ii, my co - speakers and colleagues in the government service ; distinguished speakers from the business community as well as the world bank ; ladies and gentlemen, good morning. it is a pleasure to be joining today ’ s business forum to share the bsp ’ s views on the macroeconomic developments and prospects for the philippine economy at a time when the domestic economy is seeing both low inflation and robust economic growth. in line with the conference theme and given that the other economic team members are here – allow me to share my insights on the economy ’ s outlook for the year from the perspective of a central banker. high and volatile inflation is undesirable because it leads to slower real economic growth and lower social welfare for most filipinos, especially the poor. until recently, the philippines is characterized as high inflation and low growth. in 2002, onward this trend was reversed. this development happened when bsp adopted the inflation targeting framework. in recent years, we are seeing the generally sustained positive alignment of strong growth and low inflation which is what is needed to ensure that the economy can continue growing without having to worry about overheating. the bsp, being the country ’ s central monetary policy authority with the core mandate of promoting price stability, is committed to ensure that this noninflation growth is sustained. manageable inflation along with expectations of within - target inflation over the policy horizon is expected to boost consumption demand, which has been consistently one of the key growth drivers of the domestic economy. in 2019, headline inflation eased significantly, averaging 2. 5 percent, lower than the 5. 2 percent inflation in 2018. the deceleration was largely driven by slower price increases of rice and other selected food and energy items. food inflation dropped to 1. 8 percent year - on - year in 2019 from 6. 6 percent in 2018 due to improving supply conditions. rice prices declined in 2019 largely due to the rice tariffication law and the continued arrival of rice imports. at the same time, inflation rates for meat, fish, oils, and fats, vegetables, as well as sweeteners