stakeholders have expressed in terms of areas that still fall short of their expectations. let us draw up measures to effectively address these gaps in our roadmap. fortifying the bsp team for the next medium term as we set our minds on the immediate tasks at hand, let us not lose sight of the future, which we need to plan for strategically. we end our planning exercise today with a question : “ is the bsp poised to face the advent of a new period in central banking, both in the global and regional fronts? ” with our ideals as an institution encapsulated in our new bsp logo, we usher the next medium - term with our continuing pursuit of becoming a world - class monetary authority, with high degree of professionalism and open mindedness to the changes that comes with the evolving demands for best practices in governance and service delivery. on behalf of the monetary board, i affirm our support to management. pursuing our mandate is not an easy task as it requires not only the high - level of competence the bsp is known for, but also strength of character and a courageous heart to protect and contribute to a better quality of life for filipinos. we may have our share of disappointments and discouragements in the conduct of our work, but at the end of the day, we find fulfillment in the fact that we have served our stakeholders well. i urge everyone to continue to help one another in doing our task and with god ’ s blessing see it though its completion. i congratulate all of you and the organizers of this year ’ s performance review and planning event for a job well done. thank you and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

unprecedented in the history of central banking at home and abroad. the bank has devised means of funds provision and broadened the range of eligible collateral with a view to making the effects of monetary easing permeate into corporate financing. as a result, interest rates have been at extremely low levels. for example, in addition to overnight call rates, short - term interest rates with relatively longer maturity declined to close to zero percent. the year - on - year growth rate of the monetary base increased considerably, by 20 - 30 percent. the bank's conduct of monetary policy has played an important role in preventing further deterioration of the economy by securing stability in financial markets when japan's economy was under significant stress due to adjustment in it - related industries worldwide, the terrorist attacks in the united states, and increasing concern about the stability of the financial system. however, it is also true that business fixed investment and household spending have not been fully revitalized in a situation where japan's economy is facing various structural problems. in order to make the monetary easing fully effective and achieve a full - scale economic recovery, it is essential to accomplish the following. private demand must be generated by advancing structural reforms on the economic and industrial fronts through tax reform and implementation of concrete measures to revitalize the economy. at the same time, it is also vital to strengthen the financial system and ensure its stability by resolving the nonperforming - loan problem. conclusion japan's economy is about to undergo its third cyclical recovery since 1990. in the past two recovery phases, the economy lost its momentum due to the slowdown of overseas economies and concern about the stability of the financial system. as a result, private demand could not expand autonomously and sustainably on the whole. bearing that experience in mind, the bank strongly hopes that action to tackle structural reforms will be pursued tenaciously in a variety of fields to establish a basis for the sustainable growth of japan's economy. the bank is determined to continue to do its utmost from the both of the following viewpoints as a central bank. first, it will make efforts to stabilize financial markets and ensure permeation of the effects of monetary easing through provision of ample liquidity so that japan's economy will exit from deflation. and second, the bank will endeavor to prevent systemic risk from materializing as " the lender of last resort. "