amando m tetangco, jr : the philippine economy – gearing up for the challenges ahead speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the philippine retail investment conference, hosted by the chartered financial analyst ( cfa ) society of the philippines, taguig city, 28 may 2014. * * * to the organizers of the retail investment conference, led by ms. april lynn tan, president of the chartered financial analyst ( cfa ) society of the philippines, guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. i am delighted to welcome you to the cfa ’ s first retail investment conference. coming after the country ’ s successful hosting of the world economic forum last week, and before that the country ’ s receipt of the one - notch further credit rating upgrade from standard and poor ’ s, this conference dedicated to the filipino retail investor could not have come at a more opportune time. with the wef and the rating upgrade, we could expect greater interest from foreign investors in the country ‘ s potential as an investment destination. that being the case, we should not allow the domestic retail investor to be left “ too far behind ”. the cfa institute, which organized this conference, is often thought of as an organization of math wizards and nerds who dabble in the rocket science that is called finance. looking around the room, i think there are quite a few of you who are also investment geniuses. but to the majority of us, “ commoners ”, who are not as “ gifted ”, it is the discipline in informed decision - making that evens out the equation. whether you are in the former group, or in the latter, the fact that you are here indicates to me that you have interest in the philippine economic story. i hope that at the end of the day, you will find yourselves armed with the correct information and able to make the right decisions to suit your personal financial objectives. i ’ ve structured my remarks this morning, following this outline. i ’ ll start with the developments and outlook in the philippines, go through some challenges – from both the domestic and global fronts – that face us and how the bsp is helping to address these challenges. i would like you to focus on the top chart – this is the country ’ s quarterly gdp performance. this chart tells us that since 1999 ( or nearly 15 years ago ), the

learning benefit those in the countryside as well. ladies and gentlemen. i cannot overemphasize the importance of ensuring the success and sustainability of our economic and financial education program. if we are effective in teaching saving and money management to our 12 million public school pupils, we would be on track to raise a new generation of financially - independent filipinos who will lift our country from its traditional deficit - spending mode. if we are able to educate our public to recognize legitimate investment vehicles from pyramiding scams, then we can truly harness public savings to finance productive ventures. if we are able to inspire filipinos to save, invest more, or to become entrepreneurs, then we have done our country a great service in terms of sustaining its growth and development. i hope therefore that we will continue to work together on our economic and financial education program. finally, i congratulate the eisg headed by marah angka and her staff for finally getting the eflc off the ground. let us give them our full support and cooperation. and so, ladies and gentlemen, let us now begin our tour of the eflc. mabuhay ang eflc! mabuhay ang bangko sentral ng pilipinas! thank you all and enjoy the rest of the day.