us dollars last year. in the first two months of this year, fdis jumped by 8. 0 percent to 1. 7 billion us dollars. this underscores investor confidence in the philippines ’ long - term growth prospects. all these came on the back of a whole - of - government approach to pandemic recovery. complementing the national government ’ s recovery efforts, the central bank implemented its own covid - response measures. we ensured adequate liquidity in the financial system and helped bolster domestic economic activity. through our various response measures, the central bank has injected approximately 41. 9 billion us dollars into the financial system. that ’ s equivalent to about 11. 3 percent of gdp. the economy ’ s strong growth in the first quarter, together with the improved employment situation, provides scope for the bsp to scale back our pandemic response. we have thus begun the normalization process, guided by the inflation and growth outlook, state of public health, and domestic and global risks. in normalizing, we are mindful of the need to safeguard economic recovery on one hand and to control inflation on the other. achieving that balance requires a well - calibrated and well - communicated exit strategy to avoid substantial market volatility, reduce spillovers, and continue the recovery momentum. last may 19, we raised the key policy rate from a historic low of 2. 0 percent to 2. 25 percent. also last month, the national government already paid in full its advances from the bsp worth 54o billion pesos or approximately 10 billion us dollars. before the pandemic, the philippines ’ debt - to - gdp ratio remains manageable and much lower compared to other economies. the increase in our debt over the last two years was due in part to the massive cost of vaccination and healthcare, and also in part to the government ’ s infrastructure development agenda. under the “ build, build, build ” program, big - ticket infrastructure projects were rolled out. these are worthwhile investments intended to increase the economy ’ s capacity and boost growth ahead. if our economy continues to grow between 6 and 7 percent in the next few years, the philippines can easily outgrow its public debt. besides a manageable fiscal situation, another fundamental strength of the philippines is its healthy external accounts. our hefty gross international reserves acted as a buffer during the pandemic. a reliable source of foreign exchange is remittances from overseas filipinos. with

foreign investments act, and the public services act. by opening up more sectors of the economy, we anticipate an increase in job - creating investments moving forward. infrastructure will also help the economy advance to its next stage of development. i call the period 2016 - 2021 as the philippines ’ golden age of infrastructure, with infrastructure spending as a percent of gdp hitting an average of 5 percent. by contrast, infra spending as a percent of gdp averaged 1. 5 percent from 2001 - 2009 and 2. 5 percent from 2010 to 2018. and that ’ s good news for the incoming administration as it will inherit a much - improved state of infrastructure to aid its development agenda. with all these positive developments, we are optimistic about the philippine economy. we expect the economy to grow by 7. 0 to 8. 0 percent this year, and by 6. 0 to 7. 0 percent in the next six years. the imf also has a positive outlook on the philippines. in april, the imf raised its 2022 gdp growth projection for the philippines from 6. 3 to 6. 5 percent, even as it downgraded its growth forecast for the global economy. that said, like the rest of the world, the philippines faces risks to its growth outlook. these include a possible deterioration in the covid situation and a prolonged ukraine - russia conflict, which has led to elevated inflation. on the risk of a deteriorating covid situation, the philippines continues to do mass vaccination. in fact, nationwide second - booster inoculation has begun. on inflation, the bsp ’ s latest estimates show that inflation for the year will reach 4. 6 percent, which is above the official target range of 2. 0 to 4. 0 percent. elevated inflation is seen to be temporary as estimates show this will slow down to 3. 9 percent in 2023. the bsp continues to support non - monetary measures of the national government to manage inflation, including easing importation of certain food items, boosting farm productivity, and granting of direct subsidies to vulnerable citizens. we stand ready to make further adjustments in our policy settings, if deemed necessary, and we remain committed to our price stability mandate. moving forward, the bsp ’ s actions and policy thrusts will continue to be anchored on its core mandates of promoting price and financial stability. toward this end, the bsp will continue to pursue policy actions responsive to the needs of the time. on the financial sector, the bsp will