##s, including those who may not have fixed assets to provide to banks as collateral. 33. furthermore, to spur bank lending to high - impact sector, the bank, at its july 2018 mpc, pledged to refund crr to banks under certain conditions. banks that bring proposal for funding of new projects or expansion of existing ones in agriculture and manufacturing sectors will, accordingly, qualify for crr refund of up to 100 percent. it is our expectation that banks would use this opportunity to expand credits to the real sector. 34. risk based supervision : the recent weakening of the naira, following the shift to a more flexible foreign exchange mechanism, impacted somewhat on the balance sheets of domestic banks. to guarantee financial stability as nigeria continues with flexible exchange rate system, the cbn took a number of steps, including : o monitoring compliance of supervised institutions with the foreign exchange management framework issued in june 2016 through our riskbased supervision methodology, which also involved reviewing international trade and foreign exchange operations of local banks ; o monitoring the financial position and performance of supervised institutions ; o assessment of the risk profile and governance management practices of banks o in the event of major deteriorations on any key risk indicator, we engaged with the affected bank in order to mitigate concerns and shore - up their capital base. 35. as i have always emphasized, it is our collective duty to ensure that the potentials and prospects of the nigerian economy is optimally realized. the ongoing economic recovery requires the joint efforts and wise counsel of everyone seated here, if we must make giant strides forward. the cbn is more determined now than ever to remain at the forefront of the effort to ensure that the rebound is not overturned. peer review of emerging market economies 36. ladies and gentlemen, in assessing nigeria ’ s recovery efforts and performance, it is essential to conduct a comparative assessment of our peers. strikingly, it will be discovered that nigeria did not fare badly vis - a - vis other emerging market economies like brazil, south africa, turkey, and argentina, that had similar economic experiences. 37. amidst the growing challenges, nigeria has managed to keep real gdp growth positive and has avoided a double - dip recession in contrast to some other emerging markets economies. 38. in comparison and following its 2016 contractions, the south african economy recorded a double - dip recession with renewed contractions of 2. 6 and 0. 7 percent in the first and second quarters of 2018, respectively. in argentina, though the economy was in recession throughout 2016

benjamin e diokno : welcome remarks - “ combating money laundering during pandemic ” welcome remarks by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the webinar on “ combating money laundering during pandemic ”, 21 july 2020. * * * a pleasant day to everyone! i am happy to welcome all of you to the webinar series 2020 that the bangko sentral ng pilipinas institute is conducting in partnership with the international monetary fund – singapore training institute. this collaboration emphasizes the need for organizations and institutions like the bangko sentral ng pilipinas and the international monetary fund to continuously work together to discuss timely and relevant economic and financial issues with a view to developing a better appreciation of these issues and finding solutions that adhere to international good practices. the first topic of the webinar series, combating money laundering during pandemic, highlights the serious challenges that money laundering is creating among financial institutions and economies of the world during this difficult period. the discussion is timely as we often witness that money launderers and fraudsters thrive during crisis periods as they take advantage of the vulnerability of the world economy. while the global economic activities have slowed down sharply during the current pandemic, money laundering activities are continuously being reported, which give us reason to believe that opportunistic threats abound. in the case of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, we issued memorandum 2020 – 036, dated april 29, 2020, directing all banks to pay close attention to new forms of money laundering and terrorism financing risks. aside from phishing or spear phishing campaigns and other cases of fraudulent activities highlighted in our advisories, bsp - supervised institutions have been warned to be on their guard against illegal schemes that exploit the changes in work arrangements, lifestyles or behavior of the public due to covid - 19. these new illegal schemes include donations or charity scams, impostor investment, product scams, money mules, online sex trafficking and exploitation, veiled donations for terrorism financing, which are usually coursed through financial transactions through fund or wire transfers and deposits. bsp - supervised financial institutions are also advised to consider these kinds of criminal activities and typologies in their anti - money laundering and counter terrorism financing controls and compliance processes and to report suspicious transactions to the anti - money laundering council. they are also