policy – which were put in place to respond to the showa depression of 1930 – 31. looking back at economic developments around that time, the 1920s were a period of persistent depression following the economic boom during world war i, the great kanto earthquake of 1923, and the showa financial crisis of 1927. then, in 1930, junnosuke inoue – finance minister under prime minister osachi hamaguchi – returned japan to the gold standard, lifting the gold embargo that had been in place since world war i. japan ’ s return to the gold standard meant a shift to a deflationary regime, with current deficits and price declines as a result of tight fiscal and monetary policies. in addition, in returning to the gold standard inoue set the exchange rate between gold and the yen at its former level, which was equivalent to excessive appreciation of the yen. all of this served to produce a deflationary recession in japan. in addition to these developments, the spillover of the great depression in 1929 into the domestic economy was regarded as the central cause of the showa depression. bis central bankers ’ speeches against this background, in 1931 takahashi assumed the post of finance minister for the fifth time in his career. under prime minister tsuyoshi inukai, he implemented a package of accommodative macroeconomic policies combining fiscal and monetary policies. this became known as the takahashi economic policy. on the first day of his return to office, he took the dramatic step of ordering an exit from the gold standard and a restoration of the gold embargo. as a result, foreign exchange rates became able to move in tandem with actual developments in the economy. in terms of fiscal policy, he increased fiscal expenditures, supporting the economy from the demand side. on the monetary policy front, the bank pursued accommodative measures by cutting its official discount rate and underwriting japanese government securities directly from the government. the takahashi economic policy – combining fiscal, monetary, and exchange policies effectively – led to the adjustment of the yen ’ s excessive appreciation and counteracted declining price levels. as a result, among the major world powers, japan became the first to succeed in achieving an economic recovery and escape from deflation during that period. the key to the takahashi economic policy ’ s success was a shift in economic policymaking from the deflationary regime of inoue to the reflationary one of takahashi. this overcame the public ’ s deflationary expectations,

by dr. marilette almayda, deped director for learning delivery and the screening committee who went through voluminous nomination documents and visited each of our finalists from all over the country. moving forward, i hope that the ties that bind us to our common goal will continue to nurture a new generation of financially educated and included young citizens. to us at the bangko sentral and the deped, financial education is important and necessary. the ability to handle one ’ s finances properly is a lifelong skill one must have to be a responsible and successful adult. the ideal place to start is in schools where children are learning and developing what could be lifelong habits on spending, saving and earning money. we all know the phrase, “ our children are the future of our nation. ” to us, this is not rhetoric. it is a truth and it gives us a sense of purpose and urgency. this has given impetus to our joint programs. in fact, our efforts have caught the attention of finance education advocates in other countries. in 2013, the netherlands - based child and youth finance international which is at the forefront of a global campaign to promote finance education and savings gave us the country award for having the best finance education and savings program. they were curious and actually wondered how we were able to work with our department of education to teach financial lessons as part of the curriculum as well as to inspire our biggest banks to welcome kids to open accounts with them with deposits of less than us $ 3. 00 at that time. let us therefore thank the deped and our banks for their strong support and for being on the same page with us. ladies and gentlemen. the timing of this year ’ s awards ceremony is fitting as it falls at the culmination of global money week. this is a worldwide celebration that aims to create greater 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches consciousness among children and youth about proper handling of money and how it can help them secure a brighter future. i am pleased to share that in november 2016, our participation in global money week was acknowledged by child and youth finance international as among the best in asia. under this, pupils interacted with those from other local schools and with their counterparts from brunei and russia through video conferencing and social media chats to share their views and practices on saving and handling money. our students were enthusiastic and proud for being part of a “ cool ” global community of savers. it is our hope that through our continuing joint programs