with laws and regulations. rather, good governance must frame and ground our intent so that our actions, initiatives and policies add value. good governance results in breakthroughs in the effective delivery of our mandates of maintaining price stability, financial stability and an efficient and safe payments system. good governance and breakthroughs for the philippine economy the bsp ’ s commitment to its primary mandate of price stability has brought about a balanced and sustainable growth of the economy. through the years, this required a delicate and courageous balancing act demanding the neutrality of monetary policy — without favoring any sector over another1. it required and requires the exercise of an independence that can only be achieved by a commitment to good governance. 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches through the years in the exercise of this delicate balancing act — together with the country ’ s economic managers, we have achieved 77 quarters of uninterrupted economic growth since the asian financial crisis. our six - year consecutive growth of above 6 percent makes the philippines one of the fastest growing investment - grade economies in the world. this growth streak is projected to continue for the medium term despite challenges in the global and domestic economic landscape. this growth assumption is feasible due to the confluence of various factors : first, the current progress has broader support. while traditionally, the services sector has mainly pushed growth, the industry sector is emerging as a reliable source of growth, anchored on the manufacturing sub - sector ’ s renaissance. on the expenditure side, consumer spending is a key growth engine. this is aided by the improving employment climate, pegged at 94. 7 percent of the labor force as of the first quarter of 2018. public spending is likewise rising on the government ’ s increased delivery of social services. second, our young population places us in a demographic sweet spot that enables higher productivity as a large percentage of our young population joins the labor force. lastly, our sound macroeconomic fundamentals and growth prospects continue to attract foreign investments. record foreign direct investments – usd 8 billion and usd 10 billion – entered the country in 2016 and 2017, respectively. domestic liquidity continues to expand, in line with the bsp ’ s outlook for inflation and economic activity. such expansion is driven by lending to key production sectors adding further navigational mileage to the philippine growth story. our external position remains manageable and we have sufficient liquidity buffers against global headwinds. we note that the country ’ s balance of payments position has been posting deficits since 2016 on account of strong

from the general case for further monetary easing that i have already spoken about, there are a couple of other factors that have influenced the timing. the first is that over recent months we have learnt more about the pandemic and its economic impact. as the months have passed, it has become increasingly apparent that there will be longlasting effects, including high unemployment. while the outlook does remain uncertain, we do have a somewhat clearer picture of the future state of the labour market. a sharp bounce - back in jobs is unlikely and it will take time to return to where we were before the pandemic. we have responded to this clearer picture today. the second factor is that monetary easing is likely to get more traction today than it would have when widespread restrictions were in place. in earlier months, the usual transmission 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches mechanisms were not working as normal and the challenges facing the country were best addressed by other policy tools. however, as restrictions are eased and people have more opportunities to spend, our judgement is that further monetary easing now provides additional support to other policies, including the fiscal initiatives and the rba ’ s earlier monetary policy package. in reaching today ’ s decision, the board also considered the effects on medium - term financial and macro stability as well as the impact on savers. the board recognises that low rates can encourage some additional risk - taking, as investors search for yield. it also recognises that low deposit rates can create difficulties for some people. these issues will need to be closely watched over the months ahead. but the board judged that the bigger risk at the moment was the threat to our economy and to balance sheets from an extended period of high unemployment. today ’ s decision will lessen that risk. is the rba now financing the government? the answer is a simple no. today ’ s decision does not change the long - standing separation of monetary policy and fiscal financing in australia. the rba is not financing government spending. i want to highlight the important distinction between providing finance and affecting the cost of that finance. the rba is not providing finance to the government, but our actions are lowering the cost of government finance. i should point that our actions are also lowering the cost of finance for all other borrowers in australia, whether they are a household buying a home or a business wanting to expand. this lower cost of finance for everybody is supporting the recovery from the pandemic. it is important to point out that the