amando m tetangco, jr : financial education and consumer protection – triggering a positive ripple effect speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the launch of wealth watch book ii, manila, 6 june 2017. * * * thank you for joining us at the launching of the second volume of the wealth watch book of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas. this is a special event that marks our continuing program to help improve the lives of filipinos through financial inclusion, education and protection. in particular, this book provides practical tips on wealth creation and enhancing the readers ’ financial well - being through investments management and entrepreneurship. indeed, the increasing sophistication of financial markets makes continuing financial education necessary. thus, even as we encourage our youth and the unbanked to develop the habit of saving, we also continue to develop for those who already have savings, guides on how to make prudent decisions to grow and invest their money. the timing is perfect. the philippine economy has been growing consistently and in recent years at levels regarded as one of the fastest in asia. in fact, our growth rate of 6. 4 % in the first quarter this year, brought our record of achieving uninterrupted gdp growth for 73 consecutive quarters now. in other words, our economy has been on a growth track since the first quarter in 1999 or in the last 18 years. to make this economic growth meaningful and inclusive, we should continue to empower our people to prosper and achieve financial security. the link between financial literacy and the economy ladies and gentlemen. an increasing body of research shows that a financially - literate population can create “ economic ripples ”. they have higher levels of savings and diversified investments. they manage credit and mortgages well, and make retirement planning a priority. 1 in short, they make good financial decisions that lead to better economic well - being for themselves, their families and eventually, their communities. very few initiatives have such transformational power. financial literacy in the philippines as a people, therefore, we should aspire for the development of a financially - learned citizenry who can protect themselves from fraud, even as they gain from being part of the financial system and a robust economy. in this manner, they can contribute to the sustained growth and strength of our economy. this is the challenge before us. a world bank

amando m tetangco, jr : macroeconomic prudence – a review of the philippine economy in 2009 statement by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the tuesday club breakfast meeting, manila, 6 january 2009. * * * let me begin by wishing everyone a “ calmer ”, hopefully “ not too ” challenging 2009 ahead of us. last year, i was also your guest around this time. then, i greeted you a “ happy, though perhaps more challenging year! ” if you recall, we were then coming out of 2007, which saw the country experience the “ ideal convergence of high growth and low inflation ”. but on the heels of 2007, we began to feel some of the impact of the us subprime mortgage problem. subsequent market events have certainly proven me correct, haven ’ t they? in fact, the country faced two major challenges. first, volatile international prices of oil and non - oil commodities which caused inflation to accelerate globally, particularly in the first half of the year. second, the broadening of the reach of the impact of the us subprime mortgage problem – from the us subprime market alone to the us financial market, to the global financial markets and then to the us and major real economies, and now the global real economy. these challenges translated to lower - than - first - forecasted real gdp growth and higher - thantargeted inflation. nevertheless, the country still ended 2008 on much better footing than most of our asian counterparts. specifically, philippine growth for the first 3 quarters of 2008 stood at 4. 6 percent, significantly lower than the ng ’ s initial target but still within the country ’ s long - term growth trend and quite respectable compared to our asean neighbors. inflation, on the other hand, peaked at 12. 4 pct in august from a level of 4. 9 pct at the start of the year. the average inflation for the first 11 months of 9. 4 was significantly higher than the target range of 4 pct + / - 1 percentage point. this upswing in inflation was, however, not unique to the philippines in 2008, given that this trend was largely due to elevated and highly volatile international oil and food prices. on the exchange rate, the peso lost much of the gains it tucked in 2007, due principally to heightened risk aversion towards emerging markets including the philippines