from 2. 5 million to over 14 million in just over 5 years, while mobile money transfer services have led to over 15 million kenyans being integrated into the financial system. the regulated microfinance industry has also grown tremendously with the licensing of six deposit taking microfinance institutions with 57 branches, 1. 5 million deposit accounts valued at ksh. 9 billion and 0. 53 million loan accounts with an outstanding loan portfolio of ksh. 15 billion. despite these remarkable developments in the kenyan financial sector, we are cognisant of the fact that there still remains great need within the kenyan market for appropriate and more affordable financial services. given that this situation is not unique to kenya, but applies to most, if not all, african nations represented in this forum, it is imperative that improving access to financial services remains key in our development agenda. we need to solve costs, barriers to entry, physical distance and market concentration problems. ladies and gentlemen, as we undertake to enhance access to financial services as regulators and policy makers, we must ensure that financial services are provided a bis central bankers ’ speeches competitive market environment. let us learn from developments in the microfinance sectors in parts of bosnia and india, that recently experienced crises. the challenges in these countries were instigated by issues such as multiple lending and client over - indebtedness, aggressive competition, erosion of credit quality standards, a lack of transparency in pricing, a weak credit information sharing framework and inadequate regulation. beyond these challenges, currently the broader issue of transparent and responsible pricing is becoming a concern for the global microfinance industry. price is an incentive. transparent and responsible pricing is essential for stimulating growth, efficiency and effectiveness of the financial sector. it is indeed a key ingredient for incentivising innovation, enhancing informed decision - making by consumers and fostering the development of healthy, vibrant and competitive markets. transparency in pricing is critical because consumers have the right to know the exact price of products in the market. conversely, nontransparent ( or opaque ) pricing, prevents consumers from making informed decisions about borrowing. this ultimately reduces the ability of financial institutions to compete effectively, free market forces to operate properly and the financial sector to develop efficiently and sustainably. policies to entrench relevant consumer protection measures, including transparency and truth - in - lending regulations combined with the promotion of competition and efficiency among credit providers, can go a long way toward expanding the reach of sustainable finance, particularly credit, while safeguard

crisis or no crises, filipinos abroad continue to send remittances to their families at home. it would appear that ofw remittances have an altruistic character. furthermore, the adverse impact of covid - 19 on remittances may be temporary. to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and ensure economic recovery post - covid - 19, the ng laid out a 4 - pillar socioeconomic strategy. the bsp ’ s contributions to the overall stabilization efforts fall under the third pillar. we expect that the economy will recover more strongly once fiscal and monetary stimulus gain traction and workers and firms resume operations. we expect a u - shaped recovery for the philippine economy once the fiscal and monetary stimulus measures gain traction over the next few months. in support of the government ’ s efforts toward a rapid economic recovery, the bsp implemented a package of extraordinary measures to ensure sufficient liquidity in the system as well as provide regulatory relief to financial institutions. these measures include : 1 ) reduction in the monetary policy rate by 125 - basis points since the start of the year ; 2 ) reduction in the reserve requirement ratio by 200 basis points ; 3 ) purchases of government securities ( gs ) in the secondary market ; 4 ) reduction in the overnight reserve repurchase ( rrp ) volume offering ; 5 ) engaging in repurchase agreement with the national government amounting to p300 billion ; and 6 ) approval of a package of measures to further reduce the financial burden on loans to micro, 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches small and medium enterprises ( msme ), which would help hasten the sector ’ s recovery. the assistance directed to msmes could also enable these entities to extend support to displaced ofws who are planning to shift and engage in business operations. in addition, the bsp has remitted p20 billion as advanced dividends to the national government ( ng ). under our newly - amended charter, the bsp is no longer required to remit at least 50 % of its net income as dividends to the national government, but we decided to do so in the spirit of being part of the government. the monetary board has also approved the granting of temporary regulatory and rediscounting relief measures to bsp supervised financial institutions ( bsfis ). some of these measures include relaxation of bsp regulations such as the single borrower ’ s limit ( from 25 % to 30 % ) to allow bsfis to