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Benjamin E Diokno: Sustaining the Philippine growth momentum

July 8, 2019 by Reg Hub Leave a Comment Filed Under: Central Bank Annoucements, Central Bank News Tagged: ADB, BBB Grade, DBCC, IMF, Monetary policy of philippines, NEDA, Philippines, RCM, World Bank

President Susing Pineda, fellow rotarians, friends, all the RCM Journalism Awardees special guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

Thank you for inviting me to be one of your speakers in this historical centennial anniversary celebration of the Rotary Club of Manila. Not many organizations have the distinction of reaching the all-important “century” milestone. Attaining this momentous landmark is certainly not a walk in the park for any organization. That the RCM have lasted this long is a reflection not only of its long-standing commitment to its ideals and goals, but also of its dynamism, relevance, and influence to the community it serves. For this, the men of the RCM deserve our congratulations! (Governor leads applause).

Benjamin E Diokno

I thus consider it a privilege that I stand here before you today to share with you the BSP’s assessment of the country’s growth prospects. The Philippine economy is sound, its prospects are bright. Along many dimensions, allow me to highlight several factors that continue to steer our story of resilience and stability, and to point out some key challenges that need to be addressed in our drive towards sustainable and balanced growth.

Let me begin with this slide which shows that overall prospects for the Philippine economy for 2019 and in 2020 remain bright, amid mounting global uncertainties along with emerging domestic challenges.

While the Q1 2019 growth of the Philippine economy of 5.6 percent was short of our target of 6.0 to 7.0 percent, it remains one of the highest in the region and perhaps the world. This performance was achieved notwithstanding the delay in the approval of the 2019 national budget which held back the implementation of key programs and projects.

Based on the statistics by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Philippine economy should have grown by at least one percentage point higher, at 6.6 to 7.2 percent in the first quarter, had the 2019 fiscal program been approved on time. Nonetheless, the government has crafted a “catch-up” plan to make up for the lower-than-planned state spending in the first quarter. And the consensus is that we will hit our target of 6-7% growth this year.

On the supply side, economic activity was boosted mainly by the services sectors’ robust performance. Meanwhile, the strong expansion in both investments and consumer spending also supported growth on the demand side. With the sustained 81 consecutive quarters (spanning more than 2 decades from 1999 to 2019) of uninterrupted growth, we remain optimistic that the Philippine economy can sustain its growth momentum over the medium term.

Third-party assessors share the same optimism. Shown in this slide are the growth projections released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in their latest surveillance reports.

The World Bank just reaffirmed, they are sticking to 6.4 percent growth this year for our country. These third-party assessments are also not far from the NEDA’s target for 2019. It may be noted that the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), during its meeting on 13 March 2019, approved a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target range of 6.0 percent – 7.0 percent for 2019, 6.5 percent – 7.5 percent in 2020, and 7.0 percent – 8.0 percent from 2021 to 2022.

In addition, the strength of the Philippine economy was further validated with the upgrade in our sovereign credit rating by Standard & Poor’s to BBB+ with a stable outlook. This is the highest letter grade for the foreign currency and an improvement from the BBB grade for the local currency rating. At the same time, Fitch-another rating agency-recently affirmed the Philippines’ investment BBB rating, also with a stable outlook.

Recent demand indicators continue to point to overall firm domestic growth prospects in the near term. In fact, results of the Q1 2019 survey-based consumer and business sentiment showed an improved outlook. The consumer outlook index registered an all-time largest quarter-on-quarter increase since the start of the nationwide survey in Q1 2007.

At the same time, the confidence index for business showed marked improvement after declining for four consecutive quarters.

Furthermore, with the end of the 2019 budget impasse, the continued implementation of the government’s infrastructure program – which we fondly call “Build, Build, Build” – is envisioned to generate an “impressive multiplier effect” on the economy by increasing its productive capacity, creating jobs, raising incomes, and enhancing the investment climate in the country.

Moving on to inflation dynamics, price pressures have gone down significantly, falling toward the midpoint (at 3.0 percent in April 2019) of the target band. This brought the year-to-date (January – April) average to 3.6 percent year-on-year for 2019. This is firmly within the government’s 2-4 percent target range.

This is a stark contrast to last year’s rapidly rising inflation figures that was only arrested through the adoption of timely monetary action by the BSP and non-monetary measures by the Executive department.

Looking ahead, we expect inflation to remain on a target-consistent path for 2019 and 2020. The latest baseline forecasts (as of 9 May 2019 MB policy meeting) indicate that inflation is projected to average at 2.9 percent this year while inflation forecast for next year is slightly higher at 3.1 percent. This is due largely to the rebound in global crude oil prices.

Similarly, forecasts of other institutions generally convey the same expectations. Results of the BSP’s April 2019 survey of private sector economists showed lower mean inflation forecast for 2019 at 3.1 percent down from 3.3 percent in the previous survey round. The mean inflation forecasts for 2020 and 2021 both declined to 3.3 percent from 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, projections from other institutions also show inflation within target for this year and the next.

Given prevailing conditions, the BSP decided to reduce its policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.50 percent from 4.75 percent, effective 10 May 2019. The BSP also pre-announced a phased 200-bp reserve requirement reduction for universal and commercial banks, thrift banks (TBs) and non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions (NBQBs); as well as a 100-bp RR reduction on demand deposits and NOW accounts for rural and cooperative banks. Moreover, long-term negotiable certificates of time deposit (LTNCDs) will have uniformed RR ratio of 4.0 percent.

In reducing the BSP’s policy rate and reserve requirement ratios, the Monetary Board recognized the progressive decline in domestic inflation. It was further guided by the target-consistent inflation path with inflation expectations converging with the government’s target. This is also part of the BSP’s ongoing initiative to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy and deepen domestic money market.

Nevertheless, we recognize the uncertainty in the global economic environment, with the IMF further revising down its global growth prospects due to volatilities in commodity prices, uncertainty over advanced economies’ policy normalization, as well as ongoing trade tensions as a result of the US-China [trade] war.

But while the external environment is challenging, I am cautiously optimistic about the current state of the Philippine economy.

“Keeping our house in order” remains the first and best line of defense. We are improving economic openness through liberalization of trade and foreign direct investment, we are enhancing external competitiveness by strengthening domestic industries; we are diversifying products and markets to non-traditional growing economies; and we are sustaining domestic economic resilience by building adequate buffers. These are some of the policy actions and reforms that we can pursue or continue to pursue in order to ward off the potential negative effects of external shocks, especially from rising protectionist measures and heightened policy uncertainty.

Let me talk briefly about the US-China trade dispute. There was no direct imposition against the Philippines in terms of the country’s exposure to the products imposed with tit-for-tat measures between US and China. But the extent of impact would depend on the industries affected. For instance, the Philippines could possibly boost exports of food and agricultural products to the US, taking advantage of the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods of similar nature. The same goes for US agricultural goods imposed with steep tariffs by China.

We see one positive impact that the US-China trade war could have on the Philippine electronics industry. That is if companies on either or both of the countries use the Philippines as an alternative manufacturing site. This scenario, however, would take time and the Philippines would have to compete with other potential relocation sites like Vietnam and Indonesia. The potential upside may not come about for a few years as firms would need to complete the lengthy process of shifting production sites.

We also recognize that the continued trade friction could negatively affect overall investment sentiment and increase caution and uncertainty in the global growth prospects. This could take its toll on the country’s external sector. Nevertheless, given that the economy’s growth is mainly driven by domestic demand, the trade friction would have limited negative impact on Philippine exports.

Before I close, let me emphasize the importance of sustained collaboration between the government and the private sector in pursuing hard yet necessary structural reforms to fuel the Philippine growth engine over the long-term.

Towards the end of the administration of the late president Corazon Aquino, a world class team of economist, headed by no less than Paul Krugman, analyzed the Philippine economy. And they concluded that given the economic conditions at that time, during President Cory Aquino’s time, the long-term growth of the Philippine economy was in the neighborhood of 3 percent. Repeat, 3 percent. We could only grow at 3 percent. That was then. Things are significantly different now.

Over the past 25 years, meaningful reforms have helped build and fortify the institutions that facilitate growth by expanding the role of market forces in key sectors of the economy; encouraging investments and private sector activity; removing bottlenecks for doing business in the country; and strengthening the country’s fiscal position and the financial sector, to name just a few.

No doubt, the Duterte administration is in a strong position to push for reforms by leveraging on its strong political capital as evidenced by the number of laws enacted in less than 3 years of the current administration’s leadership. These include, among others, recent enactment of the tax reforms, amendments to the BSP Charter and Rice Tariffication Law. These reforms, along with the other structural reforms in the pipeline, will continue to play a significant role in propelling the economy on a path of balanced, sustainable, and inclusive growth.

Let me take the chance to talk about Republic Act No. 11211 which was signed on 14 February 2019. This is a monumental milestone for the BSP. Our three pillars of central banking-price stability, financial stability, and an efficient payments and settlements system-were further boosted with the expansion of the BSP’s policy toolkit.

RA 11211 restored the BSP’s authority to issue its own debt papers as part of its regular monetary operations, establishes a stronger prudential regulatory framework to promote a safe and sound financial system through the expansion of supervisory coverage and authority to prescribe metrics attuned to international standards and practices.
The amendment likewise empowers the BSP to oversee the country’s payment and settlement systems (PSS) including critical financial market infrastructures that are vital components of the PSS.

Looking ahead, we will continue to monitor domestic and global developments to ensure that the BSP is able to meet its inflation targets. The BSP is also ready to use all appropriate measures as needed to ensure an inflation environment conducive to sustainable growth of the Philippine economy.

Rest assured that the future policy actions of the BSP will continue to be guided by the following principles:

Our primary focus will be price stability.
We will be pre-emptive rather than reactive and
Our policy will be data-driven and evidence-based.

Finally, let me leave you with the assurance that the Philippine economy is sound. It is one of the best performing economies in the world. Its prospects are bright-extremely bright.

And if you have money to invest, and I can see, some people here have money to invest, this is the best time to invest, invest, invest in the Philippines. Do not delay, do not waver. Because if you do, you will regret it.

To wrap up, let me end my presentation with these key take-aways.

The BSP’s monetary policy actions will help ensure that 2019 and 2020 inflation targets are achieved. Nevertheless, the BSP will remain watchful and vigilant, utilizing its analytical and surveillance tools for any potential risks to its monetary and financial stability objectives.
The Philippine economy has demonstrated uninterrupted economic expansion and has built domestic sources of resilience to help cushion against uncertainty in external environment and emerging domestic challenges
Strategic policy and structural reforms, addressing infrastructure gaps, and leveraging the country’s demographic opportunities have played a significant role and will continue to underpin the economy’s path towards balanced, sustainable, and inclusive growth.
Commitment to pursue infrastructure and reform agenda will help promote globally competitive industries in order to sustain the country’s economic growth momentum.

Lastly, on behalf of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, I congratulate all the energetic and irrepressible members of the Rotary Club of Manila, both young and old, for reaching 100 years!

Mabuhay ang Rotary Club of Manila! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay po tayong lahat!

Benjamin E Diokno: Policy continuity and institutional independence

March 20, 2019 by Reg Hub Leave a Comment Filed Under: Central Bank Annoucements, Central Bank News Tagged: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas., BICRA, BIS, BSP, filipino, Inflation, Monetary policy of philippines, Philippines

Good morning.

I am happy to be with you all today at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

I would like to thank the BSP family for their warm reception on my first day at work in BSP and the Monetary Board for our very collegial discussions yesterday.

Invariably, one cannot speak about the BSP without mentioning my immediate predecessor, Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. who spent his career spanning 38 years here. I am sure that he is and will be greatly missed for pushing an agenda centered on financial inclusion, financial learning and consumer protection. Rest assured, I will be adopting this agenda with the aim of making financial services more accessible to our larger population.

The BSP has fostered an environment for the ideal convergence of stable prices and high economic growth by implementing much-needed reforms during the past 20 years.

This has certainly led to favorable and wide-ranging results, including the country’s maintenance of its investment-grade credit ratings. As of end-2018, the country is rated BBB/Positive by Standard and Poor’s, BBB/Stable by Fitch, and Baa2/Stable by Moody’s Investors Service.

A STRONG INSTITUTION

I am certain that the BSP would not have been able to pursue such difficult reforms without a highly competent workforce that is led by outstanding, capable and intelligent leaders.

Under the BSP’s Strategy Map 2018-2023, I have been duly informed that the officers and staff of this institution are collectively working towards being “recognized globally as the monetary authority and primary financial system supervisor that supports a strong economy and promotes a high quality of life for all Filipinos.”

I would say that you have done this with clear results, as I am now joining a Credible Central Bank that enjoys the trust and confidence of the market in pursuing its mandate of price stability, financial stability and efficient payments system.

It is also noteworthy that the BSP is committed to promoting Dynamic Stakeholder Engagement to constantly seek ways to improve delivery of mandates; Organizational Agility amid a changing operating environment; and Organizational Capability by constantly developing agile, collaborative, motivated, and skilled BSP workers.

While I am still taking stock of the full breath of my responsibilities here at the BSP, I am confident that this strong, professional and well-respected organization will see me through the challenges of governorship. I truly am honored to join this esteemed institution as its fifth Governor.

STRONG REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Aside from the quality of this institution, I am also glad to note that the BSP is now better equipped to pursue its path of excellence with the enactment of new laws.

First and foremost, “Republic Act No. 11211, or An Act Amending Republic Act No. 7653, Otherwise Known as the ‘New Central Bank Act’, and for Other Purposes” signed on 14 February 2019 by President Rodrigo Duterte strengthens the BSP’s regulatory framework for pursuing its mandate. The law (a) strengthens policy framework for promoting price stability; (b) enhances the framework for prudential regulation and systemic risk management to foster the safety and soundness of the financial system; and (c) empowers the BSP to oversee payment and settlement systems.

Immediately after the signing of R.A. No. 11211, Standard and Poor’s upgraded the Philippine banking system’s Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) score from “6” to “5,” indicating lower risk assessment for our banking system. BICRA scores range from 1 to 10, with 10 reflecting assessment of highest risk.

Alongside the New BSP law, Republic Act No. 11127 or the “The National Payment Systems Act” further bolsters the BSP’s capacity to foster the efficiency of payments systems as pipelines of funds in the financial market. These laws bolster the BSP’s capacity to provide a steadying hand to the financial system.

Moreover, these payment systems initiatives dovetail with BSP’s efforts to continuously enhance the financial system’s management of cyber risks. Knowing that IT security issues have systemic implications, the BSP, under my leadership, shall continue strengthening the system’s ability to address these threats.

Moving forward, I see these multifaceted undertakings ultimately benefiting the Filipino people in terms of stable prices and a sound financial system that ably manages funds entrusted to it by savers and investors.

Last year presented a challenge for the conduct of monetary policy. Shocks from high oil and food prices brought average inflation to 5.2 percent in 2018, exceeding the National Government’s target of 2-4 percent. To ensure that we avoid propagating second-round effects and upsetting inflation expectations, the BSP tightened monetary policy by a total of 175 basis points.

With inflation slowing down in recent months, authorities have further opportunity to assess the stance of monetary policy. Given the impact of non-monetary measures to relieve food supply bottlenecks, including the implementation of the rice tariffication law, the BSP expects inflation to settle within the target band of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point for 2019-2020. Inflation expectations have also started to stabilize within the BSP’s target band, while domestic economic activity remains firm.

Nevertheless, various risks, both here and overseas, require the BSP to continue to keep a close eye on developments that could affect the outlook for inflation. As always, our decisions on the monetary policy stance will remain data-dependent.

INSTITUTIONAL INDEPENDENCE

In pursuing policy continuity, let me also assure you that the BSP will sustain its institutional independence with the Monetary Board acting as a collegial body. We shall continue to pursue monetary and financial sector policies that are data-driven, evidence-based, and attuned to the evolving market environment.

Thank you very much and have a good morning.

Nestor A Espenilla, Jr: Optimism, commitment and reform

February 1, 2019 by Reg Hub Leave a Comment Filed Under: Central Bank Annoucements Tagged: BSP, FX trading, GDP, IMF, IRC, Philippines, risk management, RRR

The Annual Reception for the banking and financial community celebrates our close partnership over the years. It is our family affair.

Rising from 2018’s Challenges

2018 began with guarded optimism nurtured early by a global economic upswing and expansion. There was higher investment and stronger private consumption in emerging market economies.

By October 2018, however, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shifted from using phrases like “Brighter Prospects” and “Optimistic Markets” to highlighting “Challenges to Steady Growth.”

The IMF cited escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, elevated policy uncertainty, dampened business and financial market sentiments, financial market volatility, and a slowing down of investment and trade.

Global developments caused portfolio adjustments, sharp exchange rate movements, and reductions in capital inflows to emerging markets.

Domestically, we had a bout with rising inflation on account of supply-side pressures alongside firm demand conditions and implementation of important fiscal reforms.

Average inflation quickly rose above the government target in 2018. In response, the BSP raised its policy rate decisively four times by a cumulative 175 basis points beginning in May 2018 to rein in inflation expectations and prevent sustained supply-side price pressures from driving further second-round effects.

Our exchange rate had episodes of sharp depreciation and our balance of payment deficit widened due to the economy’s import requirements while exports suffered from external headwinds.

Nevertheless we argued this to be consistent with our strong macroeconomic fundamentals. It is an indicator of a growing economy, reflective of dollar debt repayments, prepayments, and outward investments in the normal course of business.

The volatility in the foreign exchange market led to a reduction in our gross international reserves (GIR) as the BSP intervened to smoothen the foreign exchange market. Despite the reduction, the end-December 2018 GIR level of US$ 79.2 billion is more than adequate and continues to serve as an ample external liquidity buffer. It is equivalent to 7.0 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

To timely ease demand pressures in the foreign exchange spot market, and to provide a hedging facility for those with foreign currency-denominated borrowings, the BSP reactivated the Currency Rate Risk Protection Program or CRPP in September 2018.

Yes, indeed we had some challenges. But I believe we rose decisively to meet all of them.

The Philippine economy maintains its record of uninterrupted GDP growth for 80 consecutive quarters. This covers an impressive span of 20 years!

We continue to be one of the fastest growing economies in the region!

The resiliency of our economy can be attributed to more than two decades of sound and strategic reforms. These reforms have created buffers for the nation to withstand shocks and benefit from a more flexible policy space.

The consistently sound and stable condition of the Philippine banking system – a product not only of prudent regulation and risk-based supervision, but of earnest cooperation from the sector itself – is a key anchor of our growing economy.

Assets of the Philippine banking system continued to expand to P16.4 trillion by end-November 2018, attributed mainly to deposit growth. Most of these deposits were deployed to lending for productive activities. Loan quality remains satisfactory as banks continue to adhere to sound credit underwriting standards. Meanwhile, capitalization continues to build up, with capital ratios remaining well above national and international thresholds.

Overall, amidst the challenges of 2018, the Philippine economy has remained strong and robust. It continues to live-out its growth narrative. Congratulations everyone.

But we shouldn’t also overlook the fact that 2018 was also an exceptional year in pursuit of bold financial sector reforms. We introduced several refinements in the Interest Rate Corridor (IRC) system which provided BSP with greater operational flexibility. With the resulting firm anchoring of market rates to the IRC, we were able to reduce reserve requirements ratio (RRR) by a total of 200 basis points as operational adjustments. This keeps us on track of the medium-term goal of a phased and gradual approach in reducing RRR to single-digit level.

We also continued to liberalize foreign exchange rules and pursued improvements in the governance framework of the FX trading market. We likewise implemented measures to further develop the domestic capital market. These include enhancement of rules to facilitate bank bond issuance, paving the way for more private bond issuances. The BSP also issued enhanced guidelines on marking-to-market of financial instruments in response to the adoption of a valuation methodology for peso-denominated government securities. This forms part of the domestic bond market development roadmap that aims to promote price transparency by providing basis for the establishment of reliable and market-based benchmarks.

Key legislative measures were also passed which support our digitalization and financial inclusion efforts. The Philippine ID System Act establishes a biometrics-based, foundational, national identification system that will provide every Filipino and foreign resident with a trusted and verifiable digital identity. The enactment of the National Payments System Act is vital to the country’s payment systems development agenda.

High Hopes for 2019

As we enter 2019, we do so with excitement – initiatives we launched in the last year, and since the beginning of my Governorship in July 2017, shall continue with vigor.

Our latest forecasts indicate that inflation will return to the 2-4 percent target this year and in 2020.

Nonetheless, we approach the year with utmost vigilance and prudence- mindful of the unfolding global economic landscape. There are still significant lingering concerns and imminent risks particularly on the external front. But we cannot allow these headwinds from deflecting us from our deep financial reform agenda.

Another challenge is to adapt to the rapid expansion and reach of technological innovation and deployment of digital financial solutions. These developments need to meet the highest standards of transparency, product suitability, security, and confidentiality to ultimately serve the public.

Lastly, there is the challenge of keeping an eye out for signs of excessive credit and leverage in the financial system.

While we continue to see the Philippine banking system as currently being in a position of relative strength… nevertheless, we need to push for necessary financial sector reforms to propel us towards a more sound, stable and inclusive financial system.

Commitment Reaffirmed

Now, let me suggest to you what you may expect from the BSP in terms of policy direction in the months ahead.

First, as we pursue our primary mandate of price stability, we shall continue to carefully examine and be guided by the data and our forecast models in shaping the policy responses so that these are timely and appropriate. Even as we continue to see abating pressures on prices, the BSP will remain vigilant and ready to employ monetary responses to keep prices stable and rein in inflation expectations.

We shall carry on with further refinements of the Interest Rate Corridor (IRC) system to align the conduct of BSP’s monetary operations with international central banking practices, encourage active and dynamic liquidity management by banks, and afford the BSP with more operational flexibility. Consultations on the proposed IRC refinements shall continue.

We now see scope for further reduction on the RRR as we see inflation returning firmly to within target and with inflation expectations stabilizing.

Second, we stay committed to the micro and macroprudential measures we implemented to ensure financial stability. Recently, the Monetary Board approved the adoption of the counter-cyclical capital buffer (CCyB) on universal and commercial banks, as well as their subsidiary banks and quasi-banks to prevent excessive credit growth.

This policy expands our toolkit for systemic risk management. It is specifically designed to provide a steadying hand to counter the common occurrence of boom-and-bust periods within the financial cycle. Banks are to set aside additional capital as reserves during good times to prepare us for bad times.

We are also pursuing enhancements on operational risk management standards. Two key reforms in this area include issuance of standards on model risk management and reputational risk management. We will also be issuing guidelines on risk-based approach to pricing to help ensure that exposures of banks/financial institutions to risks associated with lending/financing activities are adequately compensated.

Third, the BSP recognizes the fundamental need to create a secure, reliable and efficient digital financial ecosystem where all these innovations can come together to achieve the greatest synergy.

As such, after the operationalization of PESONet and InstaPay, the BSP is now exploring further enhancements to the large value payment system. We do this even as the private sector contemplates other automated clearing houses (ACHs) for other useful retail payment schemes. Current efforts also include development of an inter-operable national quick response (QR) code standard to accelerate the digitalization of merchants to close the loop on the digital payment system.

In relation to this, we at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, thank you in the Banking and the Non-Bank Financial Community for going beyond just complying with financial regulations. You proactively responded to emerging developments and challenges such as our transition from being a cash-heavy to a cash-lite economy with the implementation of the National Retail Payment System (NRPS)! Salamat sa inyo.

Fourth, we remain on course in promoting financial deepening, with measures to further develop the domestic capital and foreign exchange (FX) markets. We will continue streamlining documentary requirements for FX trade and non-trade transactions. The BSP will likewise issue a circular on FX market governance framework, formalizing policies that promote fair, liquid, and transparent FX market.

And we shall continue to pursue meaningful initiatives and partnerships to advance financial education and inclusion, and consumer protection. No one is dropping the ball. The BSP is here with you for the long haul.

Concluding Remarks

As you can see, there is much work to be done. So much work.

After decades of hard work, we are now at a point when we are set to update the BSP Charter to keep up with the rapid global challenges. We collectively thank the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for taking us to the finish line right in time for the celebration of 70 years of Central Banking in the Philippines. This is truly an institutional milestone.

Thank you and Mabuhay tayong lahat!