nestor a espenilla, jr : coming together for msme development speech by mr nestor a espenilla, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), during the moa signing of the bsp, dti, mcpi and append, manila, 17 september 2018. * * * department of trade and industry ( dti ) secretary ramon m. lopez ; mr. kamrul h. tarafder, board trustee of the microfinance council of the philippines, inc. ( mcpi ) ; mr. edgardo f. garcia, chairperson of the alliance of philippine partners in enterprise development, inc. ( append ) ; members of the monetary board ; co - workers in government ; fellow bspers and advocates of financial inclusion and msme development ; ladies and gentlemen ; good afternoon. the msme sector is a crucial driver of the economy, making up 99. 6 % of our country ’ s enterprises or registered business firms. msmes generate 61. 6 % of employment. thus, developing, empowering, building the capacities of msmes and including them in the financial system, fuels the foundation of our economy as the engine for broad - based growth. there are currently many existing initiatives for msmes. dti ’ s negosyo centers, among many other programs, serve as “ one - stop - shops ” for msme registration, business development and advisory services, and market exposure, among others. our network of microfinance nongovernment organizations ( mf ngos ) is a significant source of financial products and services for our country ’ s microentrepreneurs. but despite existing efforts, challenges with msme development still persist. these challenges include lack of access to resources such as technology, skilled labor, and information. today, however, we shall focus on the particular issue of financial access. msmes are unable to reach their full potential because of difficulty of credit and financial access. currently, only 6. 6 % and 9. 8 % of total loans in the banking system and total businesses comprise investments to msmes. this low level of investment in msmes translates to capital constraints compelling msmes to resort to internal savings or earnings. a world bank report states that 81. 2 % of philippine enterprises rely mostly on internal funds to finance their investments. only 10. 1 % of enterprises use bank financing. as a staunch advocate of financial inclusion and of promoting

rafael buenaventura : new year message 2005 speech by mr rafael buenaventura, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( central bank of the philippines ), at the annual reception for the banking community, manila, 18 january 2005. * * * a warm welcome to all! let me begin by thanking all of you for joining us tonight at this traditional annual reception to officially welcome 2005. but more than your presence tonight, we thank you for your full cooperation and support in working with us to keep our economy steadily moving forward, to preserve overall confidence, and to steadfastly implement reforms. the year 2004 was again another very challenging year for the banking community, being a presidential election year with all the uncertainty that usually surrounds such a major political event. we also bore witness in the second half to a sharp increase in oil prices that inevitably had major impact on the whole economy. but in spite of all these, the economy still turned in a very respectable outcome. gdp growth is estimated at 6. 2 percent. headline inflation has picked up to around 7. 9 percent in december 2004, due mainly to the feed through from energy price adjustments and other supply side shocks, but more broad - based inflationary pressures were held in check. our accumulation of international reserves, at $ 16. 1 billion at end - december 2004, was at the high end of our expectations. the peso exchange rate finished firmly at p56. 267 and has been appreciating since then. undoubtedly, record remittance inflows that will definitely exceed p8 billion for the whole of 2004 has once again shored up our economy. commendable outcomes were also contributed by our export sector. on the domestic front, healthy consumer demand helped keep the economic momentum going. in the financial system, the reform agenda relentlessly forged ahead undeterred by all the potential distractions. the long overdue asset cleanup finally got going under the spv law. as of end 2004 about p26 billion was already done and another p54 billion was firmly in the pipeline or a total of p80 billion so far. assuming these transactions would all be completed in due course, we can look forward to a lowering of the npl ratio to less than 10 percent by end - 2005 from the current 13 - 14 percent level, given 2005 economic growth projection. still, the improving npl outlook would still be more than double than the pre - 1997 crisis ratio of less than 5 percent. this under