. in particular, the time - bound actions undertaken by the bsp intend to : maintain domestic liquidity, incentivize lending, especially to important sectors of the economy such as msmes, grant financial relief to their customers, and ensure continued access by households and enterprises to financial services. the numbers show that the bsp ’ s short - term measures have started to gain some traction. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches following the bsp ’ s infusion of p1. 9 trillion in liquidity into the system, total bank deposits grew by 10. 6 percent year - on - year, as of end - august 2020. banks ’ funding costs have declined. in turn, this has translated to lower lending rates across almost all types of loans. total loan portfolio of banks expanded by 4. 4 percent, yoy, as of august 2020. similarly, consumer loans grew by 14. 1 percent, yoy, as of end - june 2020. the bsp ’ s measures to incentivize lending to msmes and critically impacted large enterprises have resulted in the grant of new loans or in the renewal or restructuring of loan to msme borrowers. this is reflected in data on banks ’ utilization of msme loans as compliance with the bsp ’ s reserve requirements. as of the reserve week ending october 1, 2020, an average of p120. 9 billion in msme loans was used as compliance with the bsp ’ s reserve requirements, a substantial increase from the p8. 7 billion in msme loans reported in april 2020. data also show that restructured loans of banks grew by 158. 7 percent as of end - august 2020 year - on - year. this growth is significantly higher than the average growth rate of restructured loans of 36. 0 percent for the past five years. meanwhile, the volume and value of electronic payments surged in the past months. from august 2019 to august 2020 : instapay transactions posted a growth rate of 820 percent in volume, from 3. 2 million to 29. 5 million transactions, and 499 percent in value, from p24 billion to p141 billion. meanwhile, pesonet transactions more than doubled with the volume rising from 1. 1 million to about 2. 7 million, and the value climbing from p118 billion to p253 billion, or by 114 percent over the same period. apart from the philippines ’ solid macroeconomic fundamentals, the country ’ s other

strengths remain intact. on the bsp ’ s part, three areas are key to our path to progress : good governance, digital transformation, and msmes first, enterprises should be held accountable to a higher standard of good governance and should adhere to sustainability principles. the bsp ’ s initiatives in this space include alignment of our policies and work practices towards environmentally responsible and sustainable approaches. bsp has issued guidelines that will encourage financial institutions to incorporate sustainability in their risk governance frameworks. future policy will cover incentives which will encourage the financial sector to invest in activities that will promote climate - resilient, green, and sustainable growth. second, there is a need to support digital transformation within the economy and the acceleration of digitalization in the financial industry. the results of the bsp ’ s 2019 financial inclusion survey revealed that there is a wide gap in smartphone ownership and internet access depending on locality, geography, and income. 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches this basic constraint needs to be addressed so that our objectives can be achieved. in this regard, the bsp has expressed its strong support for programs that will hasten the establishment of reliable internet infrastructure across the country. these include the passage of the open access in data transmission act and the issuance of amendments to the executive order to liberalize access to satellite technology for internet services, which will allow the operation and use of international satellite communications in the country. third, given the vital role played by the msme sector in reinforcing the country ’ s growth prospects, the bsp is working on the establishment of market - enabling infrastructure that will sustain recovery of the msme sector. these include : the establishment of a credit risk database which will enable msmes to readily access low - cost and collateral - free lending. towards this end, the bsp is working with the japanese government on the development of this credit risk database for msmes. this is a comprehensive statistical reference tool for riskbased lending. this will lessen the dependence of banks on collateral, hence increase msme access to financing. the bsp also strongly supports the passage of the guide bill which proposes measures to strengthen capacity of government financial institutions to provide financing to msmes and other strategically important companies. let me now share some thoughts as to how the tmap can contribute to our national efforts, especially in the crucial areas to our growth. the country entered the crisis with a strong fiscal base which enabled the philippines to bridge the massive funding needed to finance the government