amando m tetangco, jr : a responsive capital market – a step on the road beyond investment grade speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the philippines investment forum, organised by euromoney, manila, 18 february 2014. * * * i am pleased to join you for this philippines investment forum. events such as this organized by euromoney bring together the main stakeholders of our economy. through the various panel sessions, we are able to hear and exchange views, giving us a good sense of where the market pulse lies. it was certainly a privilege for all of us to have listened to no less than the president deliver the official keynote address. this shows you how serious the country ’ s policy makers are in reaching out to you who are among our economy ’ s main stakeholders. your work is central in enabling the public sector to effect true, broad - based and lasting change that supports the country ’ s continued development. the president ’ s address and the session before this one laid the groundwork for us to set our sights “ beyond investment grade ”. investment grade – how did we get here? indeed, we have seen that the road to investment grade was not easy... it was long and marked by reforms. reforms which include, first, a critical diversification of our growth sources and drivers to exploit and take advantage of our favourable demographics... second, a purposeful shoring up of our external position and strengthening of our banking system … knowing that a robust external position and strong bank balance sheets would allow us to ride out the turbulence from external financial shocks... and third, a resolute management of our fiscal house by steadily reducing our external debt, maintaining a healthy government debt profile, and firmly committing to reforms that would allow us to meet our intergenerational needs. investment grade – the near - term challenges our current operating environment continues to be very sensitive to global developments. of late, we have witnessed what some analysts called the “ rout ” in emerging markets, following uncertainty in the next steps of the fed. since the beginning of the year, investors have indiscriminately sold em debt, and the philippines was not spared. we saw the peso decline, the stock market index drop and government securities yields rise in the secondary market. alongside the fear of contagion from em sell -

benjamin e diokno : sustainable solutions for southeast asia ’ s recovery opening remarks by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), for adb ’ s southeast asia development symposium ( seads ) 2022 “ sustainable solutions for southeast asia ’ s recovery ”, manila, 15 march 2022. * * * good day to all. i am honored to join you today for the southeast asia development symposium 2022. before the pandemic, the philippine economy grew at an average of 6. 4 percent annually. poverty incidence dropped from 23. 5 percent in 2015 to 16. 7 percent in 2018. while the pandemic may have set us back on some of our goals, i am confident that we are on our way to regaining our pre - pandemic growth trajectory. there are two things fueling my optimism : first is the continued confidence in the philippine economy. the country continues to have a favorable medium - term growth prospects based on the stable outlook affirmed by majority of major credit rating agencies. second, we didn ’ t sit idly by during the pandemic but pursued game - changing structural reforms, from amendments to the retail trade liberalization act, public service act, and foreign investments act. we are also pushing for amendments to the implementing rules and regulations ( irr ) of republic act no. 10000 or the agri - agra credit act of 2009, which allows banks to lend to more types of farming communities and classify more loans as compliant with the law ’ s quotas. we are positive that the senate and house will reach a consensus and ratify the bill once session resumes on may 2022. i am confident that, with these game - changing reforms, we can achieve real change in the lives of ordinary filipinos through more and better jobs and more competitive economy. also, our financial digitalization initiatives, under the digital payments transformation roadmap, are enabling better payments processes and financial inclusion. moreover, the philippine central bank ’ s policies on sustainable finance are harnessing the ability of banks to drive a more sustainable future. aided in part by the bsp ’ s measures, the economy is showing signs of solid recovery, as shown by the 5. 6 - percent gdp growth last year. this year, we expect the economy to grow by 7. 0 - 9. 0 percent. looking ahead, the philippine central bank is laying the foundation for