benjamin e diokno : 2021 bsp outstanding stakeholders'appreciation ceremony message by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for the 2021 bsp outstanding stakeholders'appreciation ceremony, 29 july 2021. * * * ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2021 outstanding bsp stakeholders appreciation ceremony. our theme, “ pagpupugay at pagkilala : sa gitna ng hamon ng pandemya, ” sums up what we are about to do today — give due recognition to you, our partners, who have gone beyond the call of duty in the name of service at the height of the global health crisis. it has been more than a year since the pandemic began, and, with cautious optimism, we can say that the worst is over. though our economy received big blows because of the pandemic, we started to see green shoots of recovery as early as the third quarter of last year. this is because of the whole - ofnation approach that we, which includes each of you, employed. before the pandemic, we are in what we can call as a position of strength, with ample fiscal and monetary buffer that the country used to respond to the crisis. amid the pandemic, we in the bsp opened our toolkit. we cut policy rate to a historic low of two percent and reduced the reserve requirement to 12 percent — all these to boost market confidence and free up more funds for lending to businesses and households. extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. with legal safeguards in place, we extended lifeline support to the national government in the form of provisional advances worth p540 billion to augment its resources for covid - related spending. in sum, the bsp injected p2. 2 trillion into the financial system, equivalent to 12. 3 percent of the country ’ s gross domestic product for 2020 as of july 21, 2021. at the same time, we implemented various time - bound regulatory relief measures to enable banks and their clients manage the impact of the pandemic on their finances. these measures range from grace periods for loan payments to capping of interest rates on credit card usage, among others. as we gear up toward recovery, we are also building the foundation of the “ new economy ” through digitalization and financial inclusion. why finance digitalization? financial technology makes transactions easier and faster, which

outside of members ’ jurisdictions ; and • the methodology and approach for the regional financial risk assessment project. on the matter of the ccmf serving as the central reporting facility, there were questions as to its appropriateness, ability and capacity to manage such a task : • does it have the necessary financial and human resources? • do they have the required expertise, bearing in mind that this is a research institution? • how will the issue of legality and confidentiality be resolved? from recent discussion and exchanges between governors at and after the 27 may 2011 governors ’ caucus held in bridgetown, barbados it does not appear that we are anywhere near to resolving these issues and a sub - committee of governors was appointed specifically to look into these issues, among others. so, when i was tasked by my supervision department to make this feature address, these were some of the issues that governors were still hotly debating and i became fearful that this very important project may also fall victim to the dreaded caricom malaise. it then dawned on me that the cgbs and not the ccmf may be the only salvation and the ideal rescue vehicle for this project. in 1983, caricom central bank governors envisaged the need for an entity to spearhead the enhancement of regional banking supervision practices in line with internationally accepted standards. hence, the birth of cgbs, an institution charged with charting the way forward for supervisors to maintain above - board practices and equilibrium in regulating financial sectors across the caricom region. since then the cgbs has grown and accomplished much, and as i mentioned earlier, is one of the few caricom institutions that actually produces real work in the true spirit and meaning of regional integration. it is the obvious choice to be the central reporting facility and should be the home of the financial stability project ; financial stability review falls naturally within its bailiwick. what i am saying is that the time has come to legally establish the cgbs as caricom ’ s supranational financial regulatory authority. such a structured cgbs would eliminate all the concerns governors now have about the appropriateness of the ccmf for this role in particular the concerns on the legality of regional information sharing. presently, the conduct of cgbs members towards each other has been guided by a protocol based on mutual respect and trust. there is a members ’ handbook and a recently signed memorandum of understanding for regional cooperation though none of these are legally binding.