on purposeful structural reforms. the country ’ s strong track record of prudent policymaking has likewise led to a robust external payments position, larger international reserves, improved external debt metrics, and healthy public finances. at the same time, philippine banks continue to be sound, stable, and well - functioning based on all metrics. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches it is from this strong position that the bsp acted swiftly and decisively to inject liquidity into the system to calm the market. at the same time, it communicated its priorities and policies well. we reduced policy rate by a cumulative 175 bps – by 25 bps even before the pandemic became full = blown, followed by a series of three 50 bps cut in 4 months. we cut reserve requirements by 200 bps for universal and commercial banks and by 100 bps for thrift banks and rural and cooperative banks. we entered into a repurchase agreement with national government through the bureau of the treasury ( btr ) ; 1 we also opened a daily one - hour window to purchase government securities in the secondary market ( open market operations ) ; we remitted dividends amounting to ₱20 billion to support the ng programs, even if the bsp is no longer required under our new charter to remit cash dividends to the national government. 2 / moreover, we expanded the set of eligible instruments as compliance with the bsp ’ s reserve requirement to include newly granted loans to msmes and critically impacted large enterprises that do not belong to conglomerates ; we also issued time - bound and targeted regulatory and operational relief measures to encourage bsp - supervised financial institutions to continue their support to the economy, particularly the msme sector. these measures include : extension of financial relief to borrowers, incentivized lending, promotion of continued access to financial services, support for continued financial services delivery, and support for sufficient level of domestic liquidity and economic activity. in sum, we have injected approximately p1. 9 trillion pesos in liquidity into the financial system, equivalent to 9. 6 percent of gdp. why help the msmes? because this sector is a huge part of our economy. the msmes account for about 99 percent of total establishments in philippines, 63 percent of total employment, and 36 percent of total value added. the sector is also a major contributor to the country ’ s current account, generating one - fourth of our total export earnings. the banking system

the european observation period, the banks need to integrate this new standard into their liquidity management policies as of today. this means that as we now have clear rules, the necessary structural changes must be undertaken. in 2013 we will pursue our efforts on the 1 - year liquidity ratio, but also on the links between monetary policy and the liquidity ratio. 2. 3 in the field of savings, the reallocation of household ’ s financial investments towards bank savings products in 2011 continued in 2012. the raising of the ceiling of the “ a ” passbook savings account and of the sustainable development account led to two months of significant inflows for these products in october and november, and the ceiling of the “ a ” passbook savings was again raised on 1 january of this year. i am perfectly aware that these adjustments to france ’ s regulated savings generate tensions for the collection of bank resources and life insurance premiums. however, i call upon the institutions of the paris financial centre to continue demonstrating prudence and responsibility in their search for client resources. the banque de france and the prudential supervisory authority will be vigilant in this respect. it is vital that market conditions be fully accounted for in setting the level of interest on financial products, whether offered by banks or life insurers. it is also best if preference is given to the collection of long - term savings that are indispensable for financing the economy. indeed, i am actively seeking the support of the government with regard to this objective. the bank will seek to ease the individual adaptations required by these numerous new regulatory frameworks. in particular we will strive to facilitate the management of liquidity and collateral, notably by continuing to support the mobilisation of lending to the economy via refinancing operations with the central bank, but also via markets. in this perspective, and at the initiative of the banque de france, a paris financial centre working group has been set up to develop innovative and safe securitisation mechanisms that should allow banks to make better use of the pool of claims on their balance sheets and to strengthen their financing capacities. the bank will also continue to mobilise all parties concerned, and in particular companies, in order to accelerate and successfully implement france ’ s migration to sepa payment instruments that should be finalised by 1 february 2014 for credit transfers and direct debits. when the system is operational, all parties will benefit from advantages in terms of cost, efficiency, payment