And reflecting the decline in mortgage rates since late 2018, residential investment turned up in the third quarter following an extended period of weakness. The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in October—near a half-century low. The pace of job gains has eased this year but remains solid; we had expected some slowing after last year’s strong pace.
The BSP is at the forefront of efforts to digitize the Philippine economy. Last October, we launched the Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap. This is in line with our goal to become a cash-lite economy. By 2023, we want to see half of financial transactions in the country done electronically.