rafael buenaventura : exports performance in the philippines welcome remarks by mr rafael buenaventura, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( central bank of the philippines ), at the exporters ’ forum, manila, 25 october 2004. * * * ladies and gentlemen, good morning : once again, i welcome you to this gathering of exporters and policymakers, which we have been doing since 2002 to discuss issues and concerns of common interest. i am glad to see familiar faces around. i also extend a special welcome to the new attendees for finding the time to join us today. let me also congratulate you for working hard to keep exports performance one of the few bright spots in our macroeconomy. i hope that we can go beyond the 13. 7 percent growth we had in august for the rest of the year. i am sure that this is possible given that the outsourcing of manufacturing of electronics and motor vehicle parts from other regions continues to benefit the asia pacific region, including the philippines. garments, which posted a double - digit growth in august, the first time since march of 2003, hopefully, will continue to pick up ahead of the holiday season. meanwhile, the improving world price of agro - based products bodes well particularly for the coconut oil industry. these are signs of good times ahead. overall, we expect a full year growth of 10 percent in 2004 and 2005. mr. guinigundo will discuss the details later and we will take this opportunity to validate with you our forecasts. being with the industry, your expertise in reading where the market is leading to is a major input to our projections. while export growth for next year looks promising, we all believe that there is more to be done to catch up with our asian neighbors who are making major inroads into the world market. we have been discussing the problems besetting the export sector - high power cost, poor infrastructure, security concerns, labor unrest - and i know the growing impatience in some of you on the seemingly slow progress in addressing them. however, you must also recognize that the government has been doing its best given its limited resources. this is the reason why we invited officials from other departments - department of energy, department of labor, department of finance, department of trade and industry, the board of investments, the philippine economic zone authority and the philippine national police, among others - to hear your concerns as well as share with you the various reforms currently

jwala rambarran : prospects for caribbean economies and opportunities for the financial services sector – the catalytic potential of diaspora bonds remarks by mr jwala rambarran, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the annual meeting of the caribbean association of banks ( cab ), montego bay, jamaica, 15 november 2012. * * * at the outset, i thank the caribbean association of banks ( cab ), formerly the caribbean association of indigenous banks, for inviting me to speak at its first conference under the cab name and brand, and to deliver the keynote address on the relevant sub - theme “ prospects for caribbean economies and opportunities for the financial services sector. ” over almost four decades, cab ( through its previous incarnation ) has played an important role in sensitizing caribbean leaders to regional and global financial policies that are likely to impact our banking and financial services industry. indeed, i commend cab for spearheading the effort to alert caribbean policymakers to the implications of the foreign account tax compliance act ( fatca ), an issue that revolves around tax transparency and the fight against cross - border tax evasion, and has the potential to affect every caribbean person or entity with any interest in u. s. financial assets. at a time when closer partnership across the region ’ s financial sector is becoming even more relevant, i look forward to cab remaining a strong, respected voice and advocate for financial institutions in the caribbean. ladies and gentlemen, the caribbean is gradually recovering from a deep recession caused by the global economic crisis, which originated in the united states some five years ago and has since spread to the euro zone. given the caribbean ’ s close trading and investment ties to north america and europe, the region experienced sharp contractions in key sectors such as tourism, energy and alumina, a virtual sudden stop of foreign direct investment, and weaker flow of remittances. some caribbean countries have approached the international monetary fund ( imf ) for financial support to weather the crisis. others have delayed or resisted the implementation of harsh austerity measures, preferring to rely mainly on fiscal stimulus to kick start growth, which, in turn, is elevating the risk of debt distress. the twin constraints of low growth and high debt are weighing on economic prospects for the caribbean, and the state of affairs in the eastern caribbean is not too encouraging. so, this morning, i want to talk about three things : • first, some of the key risks and challenges to global growth