markets group also maintains close contact with financial market participants in australia and elsewhere, and the reserve bank gains valuable intelligence as a participant in both local and offshore markets. in the lead - up to the board ’ s meeting, all this material is carefully evaluated. at a meeting of the most senior officers in the week preceding the board meeting, discussion occurs about what should be recommended to the board. papers for the board containing the factual information available, the staff ’ s judgements about issues of interpretation in the data, the outlook and any topics of special interest are prepared. a four to five page paper, containing a high - level summation of the issues for policy and the recommendation, is completed on the thursday afternoon ahead of the meeting. board members receive the papers on the friday. at the board meeting, the most senior staff present the key messages from the papers. there is extensive discussion, and plenty of questions from the members about the material. the board, i can assure you, is no rubber stamp and its members are no group of shrinking violets. they come from a diverse set of backgrounds. they bring their own experiences and their own independently gleaned pieces of information about what is going on. the analysis and arguments put by the staff and management of the bank are well and truly tested. any weaknesses will quickly become pretty clear. this discussion usually takes about three hours. it is, i would think, the most intense regular discussion of the state of the economy that occurs anywhere in the country, as of course it should be. at the end of the discussion, the governor, as chairman of the board, will sum up and introduce the policy question. each member has an opportunity to give their view and their reasoning on the decision at hand. typically, a consensus emerges, and the decision is then taken. it then remains to issue a statement. the board meeting is not a drafting session – the members are usually content to leave the precise wording to the chairman, on the understanding that the statement will be consistent with the discussion at the meeting. the statement is then released at 2. 30pm and the community is thereby informed very quickly what the decision is and why we have taken it. subsequently, the draft minutes of the meeting are prepared. these are finalised after members have the opportunity to comment on the draft during the following week, and are released publicly on the tuesday two weeks after the meeting. a few days after this, the whole sequence begins over again. in addition

these exceptional microentrepreneurs not only survive they thrive! their stories give us confidence that our micro, small and medium enterprises ( msmes ) will continue to be a vital, resilient, and viable foundation for sustaining economic growth throughout our country. it is noteworthy that one of the country ’ s pioneer mfis – card - mri – is a 2008 awardee of the prestigious ramon magsaysay award foundation for public service under its theme “ pathfinders in a changing asia. ” it was honored for its " successful adaptation of microfinance in the philippines, providing self - sustaining and comprehensive services for half a million poor women and their families. " indeed, real - life success stories of microentrepreneurs and hard data on hand prove beyond reasonable doubt that microfinance truly has the power to liberate our entrepreneurial poor from poverty and to give them a better life. as of june 2008, there were 802, 092 microfinance borrowers who have accessed loans worth p6. 5 billion from 230 banks. these borrowers have also accumulated roughly p1. 6 billion in deposits with the banks. it is also evident that our banks have successfully taken their strategic place in providing financial services to the previously unbanked. since 2006, rural banks have consistently accounted for a significant portion of the winners. in fact, both of our national winners this year are clients of rural banks. i believe this trend will continue as more banks provide microfinance services. i also see more successful microentrepreneurs being nominated in the years ahead as partner institutions who have become fierce advocates of microfinance get more supporters and more microentrepreneurs on board. synergies developed between and among partner institutions should result in a further broadening and deepening of the microfinance sector. the case of citi awardees are a case in point. i understand our 11 awardees have attended financial education lectures to boost their ability to sustain profitable operations. the members of our national selection committee have also been generous in terms of giving guides to growing their business and providing marketing outlets for consumer goods. on our part, the bangko sentral will continue to provide a policy environment conducive to broader participation of banks in the microfinance sector. rediscounting of microfinance loans will also continue. and so, ladies and gentlemen, let us continue working together to ensure the continuing success of microfin