benjamin e diokno : the philippine economy - a story of cautious optimism speech by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the wallace business forum, makati city, 19 june 2019. * * * wallace business forum ( wbf ) managing director gary teves, distinguished officers and members of wbf, esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. i am pleased to address you in this forum organized by the wallace business forum. your continued interest in the philippine economy has greatly helped in shaping the quality of information provided to the international community. events such as this offer the bsp an excellent opportunity to engage with various stakeholders in policy dialogue and discuss the developments in our core mandate of promoting price stability and financial stability as well as our views on the current challenges we are facing. let me begin my speech with the concept of a goldilocks economy, a state of having a “ just right ” mix of high growth and low inflation. has the philippines entered this state? the answer is definitely yes. allow me to clarify. there has been an encouraging development in the decelerating trend in inflation. this has allowed us to reduce the interest rate on the bsp ’ s overnight reverse repurchase ( rrp ) facility by 25 basis points to 4. 5 percent in our latest policy meeting held last may 2019. this decision was aimed at helping inflation move towards the middle of the target range and give due consideration to growth, in line with the bsp ’ s flexible approach to inflation targeting. in addition, although the country experienced lower - than - expected growth for q1 2019 at 5. 6 percent, growth is expected to pick up in the second half of 2019 with the catch - up government spending plan. let me emphasize that the country ’ s economic expansion streak is now 81 quarters, which translates to more than 20 years of uninterrupted growth. in terms of the bsp ’ s outlook for inflation, our latest baseline projections in may indicate that inflation will likely settle within the target range of 3. 0 percent ± 1. 0 percentage point for both 2019 and 2020. this positive alignment between growth and inflation has been a constant narrative and is expected to further lend support to the country ’ s long - run growth momentum. both liquidity and credit conditions in the country continue to be in line with the country ’ s overall economic growth. as

philip r lane : stabilising the economic outlook remarks by mr philip r lane, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at “ the outlook for the economy and finance ” workshop ( fully digital ), organised by the european house – ambrosetti, frankfurt am main, 27 march 2021. * * * the theme of this panel is the “ competitiveness of europe and of the european financial markets ”. although the near - term focus of everyone is predominantly on combating the pandemic, it is also necessary and appropriate for us to examine the longer - term determinants of income levels and living standards. let me emphasise that shorter - term and longer - term economic performance are inextricably linked, especially in the current circumstances. in particular, a sustained period of below - capacity economic activity damages the longer - term productive capacity of the economy through several mechanisms. first, inactivity hurts labour productivity through the loss of on - the - job knowledge accumulation. and for those entering the workforce straight from school or university, the damage has been compounded by the adverse impact of the pandemic on educational systems over the last year. second, the sustained loss of revenues in those sectors most affected by social restrictions has weakened corporate balance sheets. since the financial health of firms is an important determinant of investment, the long - run level of productivity is threatened by a reduction in capital accumulation. and firm - specific knowledge capital may be lost if the revenue shortfall during the pandemic results in the closure of otherwise viable firms. third, the pandemic is also an uncertainty shock. not only is there uncertainty about the timing of the exit from the pandemic – due to the opposing forces of vaccinations, other medical treatments and social restrictions on the one side, versus the spread of the virus and the emergence of mutations on the other side ; but there is also a lively debate about the implications of the pandemic for the future of various sectors. in particular, the future balance between the office and the home as a workplace, as well as the option to work remotely from any corner of the world, has widespread implications for many sectors. it is also plausible that the accumulated experience with online meeting and collaboration technologies will reshape how international activities are organised, including a decline in the scale of business travel. while a substantial proportion of this uncertainty is inescapable, there is a clear risk of selffulfilling adverse dynamics