industry, liberalized the power sector, privatized the water services, and acceded to the world trade organization. these are just some of the reforms implemented in the 1990s that have been followed through in the succeeding decades and — if i may stress — more aggressively so in the last three ( 3 ) years under the duterte administration. key reforms from 2016 onwards are expected to unleash more growth potentials for the philippines. among these positive game changers have involved tax reforms, liberalization of rice importation, the national id system, universal healthcare, universal access to tertiary education, ease of doing business law, relaxation of the foreign investments negative list ( finl ), and the revised corporation code — just to name a few. the newly amended bsp charter in 2019 has also strengthened the bsp ’ s capacity to better safeguard price and financial stability, and to promote an efficient payments and settlements 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches system amidst a growing economy and the increasing sophistication of the financial system. all these reforms should support and sustain the currently favorable conditions of the economy, summarized by the four key observations i mentioned earlier. let me expound of these at this point. philippine macroeconomic performance first, solid and sustainable economic growth. the philippines recorded its 82nd consecutive quarter or roughly more than twenty years of uninterrupted economic growth in the second quarter of 2019. this shows that we have managed to sail through the toughest external challenges from the asian financial crisis to the global financial crisis. on the production side, economic growth was propelled mainly by the robust performance of the services sector. meanwhile, broad - based expansion in household consumption and government spending reinforced growth on the demand side. the build, build, build program ushers in the country ’ s golden age of infrastructure, giving additional solid push for the economy ’ s productive capacity to expand further. second, domestic inflation is within - target. after posting successive multi - year highs that culminated in a 6. 7 percent nine - year peak in september and october, inflation has slowed considerably and reverted to within the target range of 2. 0 to 4. 0 percent. this is credited to a series of monetary actions by the bsp that addressed brewing second - round effects combined with and non - monetary actions by the government that addressed bottlenecks to food supply. the decelerating trend in inflation, which fell to 0. 9 percent in september, has allowed us to reduce the interest rate

new generation of filipinos who are adept in managing their own resources and in strengthening the country ’ s financial system. let us cooperate therefore in implementing this breakthrough program. indeed, it should be another busy year for all of us. i therefore call on the officers and members of bmap to assist the bangko sentral in ensuring the successful implementation of these reforms and advocacies. we will again count on your support and commitment to these programs. together, let us forge an even stronger partnership as we continue to foster stability in the financial system and secure more sustainable and higher growth path for our economy. finally, i thank your outgoing officers – led by bobby banaag – for a job well done and congratulate the new set of bmap officers – headed by mike villareal – on the successive breakthroughs they will set during their term. mabuhay ang bmap! mabuhay ang pilipinas! maraming salamat sa inyong lahat!