prasarn trairatvorakul : thailand – assessment of recent economic performance and challenges for the period ahead keynote address by dr prasarn trairatvorakul, governor of the bank of thailand, at the institute of international finance asia ceo summit, bangkok, 14 march 2012. * * * distinguished speakers, ladies and gentlemen. let me begin by thanking our hosts – the iif and bangkok bank, for inviting me to speak before you at this occasion. it is a pleasure to participate in this unique forum that brings together so many experts from both the private and public sides of the international financial community. i would also like to congratulate the iif for your proud 30th anniversary. my designated topic for today is on thailand ’ s recent economic performance and challenges for the period ahead. in this audience, i think it is safe to presume that most of you are familiar with recent economic developments so i will be brief in this respect and focus most of my remarks on challenges going forward. so let me start by offering a recap on the events of 2011 up to now. the main theme during most of last year was maintaining growth momentum while keeping stability in check. as the economy gained traction, the balance of risks began to shift away from growth and towards inflation. as a result, monetary policy was dedicated to normalizing interest rates. then the table was turned. threats to the global outlook began to intensify, driven primarily by the euro sovereign debt crisis and signs of continued fragility in the us economic recovery. domestically, the devastating floods in the fourth quarter of last year caused severe disruptions to our agricultural and manufacturing industries in affected areas. with upside risks to inflation deemed to be contained, the monetary policy committee ( mpc ) agreed that there was room to address the heightened risk to growth and the policy rate was reduced by a total of 50 basis points over two meetings. the current rate of 3. 00 percent was judged to be accommodative for domestic recovery as well as supportive of long - term economic stability. this is the story up to now. while the overall environment is improving, one cannot afford to be complacent. the events over the past few years has reminded us that things that seem under control can get out of hand very quickly. so, let me take you farther down the road of 2012 – 2013. i would like to focus on two key issues. the first concerns future challenges facing thailand. the second then

amando m tetangco, jr : nurturing successful & ethical finance professionals speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the finex - citi rafael b buenaventura outstanding finance educators awards night, manila, 28 january 2009. * * * members of the monetary board, the family and friends of governor rafael buenaventura, the organizers of the finex - citi rafael b. buenaventura outstanding finance awards led by mr. sanjiv vohra of citi and mr. eduardo francisco of finex foundation, distinguished finalists, my colleagues at the bangko sentral ng pilipinas, special guests from the academic, banking and finance communities, good evening. i am very pleased to be here today to join you in honoring our outstanding finance educators. as a career central banker for more than three decades now, i was fortunate to have good mentors ; governor rafael buenaventura stands out in particular. he never lectured, he mentored. he never preached, he showed by example. thus, his six - year term as head of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas will be remembered for the world - class expertise and wisdom which he generously shared. it is fitting therefore that our awards tonight are given in honor of a great mentor – former bsp governor paeng buenaventura. ladies and gentlemen, let us celebrate the memory of gov paeng with a long round of applause. teaching is a vocation ; it requires intellectual, emotional, and spiritual commitment. it is therefore proper for us to reward outstanding educators. to me, the discipline, intellectual rigor, and moral values that good educators engender are priceless gifts that empower their students to become effective catalysts for economic and social advancement in our country. given the hard and painful lessons from the ongoing global financial crisis, we cannot overemphasize the importance, the value of instilling good moral principles and good governance in the process of educating our youth, the future leaders of our nation. for instance, we have seen the destructive effects, on a global scale, of the greedy and senseless race to have ever fatter bottomlines at all cost, in total disregard of its consequences. we have seen many supposedly finance experts lose their perspective when it comes to money. think subprime, madoff, and the german billionaire, one of