prudence has to be observed to rein in excessive moral hazard that may arise. human behaviour is expected to change with social distancing as the new norm. people are expected to prefer using electronic payment and financial services to face - to - face and over - thecounter transactions. to expand the reach of digital transactions, we need to increase contactless payment facilities, such as paymaya and gcash. their use can be expanded to include wet markets, retail stores, and public utility vehicles ( jeep, taxis, tricycle, bus ). we need to quicken the adoption of the national qr code standard ( “ qr ph ” ) to enable interoperable payments for person - to - person ( p2p ) and person - to - merchant ( p2m ) transactions. the scale of the recently launched egov pay facility can be expanded to enable ordinary citizens to digitally pay government taxes, fees, and charges. the expeditious implementation of the national id system will enable inclusive and innovative digital finance and ensure reliable database for the design and impact assessment of policies, including those for taxation and social support purposes. with the increased usage of non - bank channels to send / receive money, the bsp has been improving channels of remittances with the approval of new technologies in remittance transfers ( mobile phones, internet, cash cards ). admittedly, insufficient it infrastructure leading to the slow internet connection, data privacy and cybersecurity risks, and lack of knowledge on new technologies may pose challenges in the implementation of financial digital services. promoting financial literacy and ensuring good market conduct are likewise important to deepen the public ’ s trust in digital financial services. moving forward, more measures should be taken to reduce external vulnerabilities. congress, meanwhile, must provide additional measures to reduce the costs of doing business in the philippines ; streamline the investment process ; and increase business confidence by improving the business climate, fostering competition, and boosting productivity growth via the corporate income tax and incentives rationalization act ( citira ) and amendments to the public services act. concluding thoughts the covid - 19 pandemic is unprecedented in scale. nonetheless, as most of the global economic crises, it provides important lessons to governments in terms of preparing for crisis of the same scale in the future. the pandemic underscores the imperative of building sufficient buffers during good times and the need to speed up the modernization of the country

to farmers to keep food production uninterrupted. consequently, it will ensure that farm produce reaches the markets and are made available to filipino consumers and provide filipino farmers their rightful share in the gains from production. fourth is the development of highly skilled and resilient workforce by strengthening the educational system, sustained upskilling, and adequate health protection to future - proof our workforce. in this way, the country ’ s productive capacity can benefit more strongly from its favorable demographics. according to the united nations, the philippines has one of the youngest labor force relative to other southeast asian countries and the rest of the world even until 2060. the median age of filipinos is estimated to be 25. 7 years old in 2020, younger than the expected median age of 30. 9 years old globally. the structural reform imperatives i have outlined are outside the ambit of bsp. yet they have profound impact on the realization of the bsp ’ s policy thrusts. against this backdrop, what else can the bsp do? the bsp ’ s policy space remains sufficient. the bsp has yet to exhaust the conventional monetary instruments in its toolkit to support the liquidity requirements of the economy, should conditions warrant. the covid - 19 pandemic has affected various industry sectors where banks may have substantial exposures to. as the economy gradually moves beyond quarantine, the amplification of strains in the whole financial system have yet to be revealed. adjustment in operations undertaken by businesses as a consequence of the community quarantine as well as changes in capacity to pay off creditors may have adverse balance sheet and employment effects. given interlinkages across sectors, these may have significant financial stability implications. given the possibility of higher defaults and non - performing loans, there may be scope to offer more debt restructuring measures. the bsp supports the financial institutions strategic transfer ( fist ) bill that creates asset management corporations. the measure seeks to reinstate time - bound fiscal incentives for relieving the balance sheets of banking institutions of soured loans that may impair lending to the productive sectors of the economy. we agree in principle with the goals of the proposed philippine economic stimulus act of 2020. the stimulus act seeks to ease the plight of workers, families and businesses who were adversely affected by the covid - 19 pandemic and to facilitate recovery and preserve the 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches country ’ s economic growth. as in any measure providing support using public funds,