After the pursuit of strategic, targeted and purposeful reforms over the last two decades, the Philippines now enjoys an economic bright spot, with 76 consecutive quarters of positive GDP growth. Moreover, this sustained economic expansion was achieved in an environment of generally low and stable inflation. The continued stability and soundness of the financial system also contributed to the economy’s resurgence.
Our dialogue with the government has continued, including the direction that we received in February 2021 from the Ministry of Finance under section 68B of the Reserve Bank Act indicating that when setting financial policies we have regard to the government’s policy “to support more sustainable house prices, including by dampening investor demand for existing housing stock which would improve affordability for first-home buyers”.9 Further, at each stage of our macroprudential policy settings, any major changes have involved public consultation where we considered the views of industry as well as the public more generally.