nestor a espenilla, jr : beginning a meaningful conversation - first coordination dialogue on developing the local debt market speech by mr nestor a espenilla, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the local debt market development workshop, manila, 25 august 2017. * * * the securities and exchange commission, the bureau of treasury, and the bangko sentral ng pilipinas are no strangers to coordination and collaboration ( many of our achievements come from working together! ) and while this is not our first time to collaborate, it is the beginning of a new and meaningful conversation. today, we mark a milestone as we unveil the philippine roadmap for developing the local debt market. at the same time, we look forward to engaging in an initial discussion with market participants. this is a great time to begin this conversation! recently, our capital market was recognized as an emerging investment hub in asia by three major debt watchers – moody ’ s, standard and poor ’ s, and fitch. robust economic conditions coupled with government ’ s thrust to promote infrastructure create favourable conditions for capital market deepening. government ’ s vision of a “ golden age of infrastructure ” to support value - added output to the housing, manufacturing, connectivity and agricultural sectors is a game changer. 1 a deeper capital market will mobilize long - term savings for the financing requirements of these priority industries. moreover, gdp is projected to grow at 6. 8 percent in the medium term, with the inflation outlook for the next two ( 2 ) years manageable and within the government ’ s three ( 3 ) percent ± one percentage point target. our international reserves are at a level of eighty point eight billion us dollars ( usd80. 8b ) as of end - july 2017 — enough to cover eight point six ( 8. 6 ) months of imports and payments of goods and services. as if these are not encouraging enough, our discussion on capital market reform received support via technical assistance from the imf. the time is right to talk and take up reforms. colleagues and friends, it is our pleasure to start this conversation with you and to make local history. i am honoured to represent the bsp in this regard. sec commissioner ephyro amatong, treasurer of the philippines, rosalia de leon, representatives of the bankers association of the philippines ( bap ), headed by president nestor tan and bap open

. ladies and gentlemen. the overall success of financial and economic education rests on the concerted efforts of the bsp, our educators and our partners in the private sector. aside from the various programs and initiatives of the bsp, our contributions to this advocacy lie in providing support to similar efforts of individual organizations. that is why we are particularly happy to host this awards night, together with finex and citi foundation. both the private sector, as well as the bsp, stand to gain from a citizenry that better understands economics and finance, and we pledge our support to programs and initiatives that will help us attain this end. for finex and citi foundation, we look forward to building upon our collaboration and partnerships in the area of promoting financial and economic education. for our educators, nominees and winners all, i salute you for your dedication to an ideal that we at the bsp and the banking community as a whole, hold dear. i know that you do all these things not for personal glory or monetary reward. however, your actions should be recognized because they serve to inspire others to do better and to continue the work at hand. i challenge our educators to develop new and innovative methods of reaching our students, and to continue to inspire and enkindle in the hearts of the youth, the thirst and zest for knowledge you hope to impart. once again, thank you for your dedication and congratulations to our winners! mabuhay ang pilipinas! salamat sa inyong lahat.