*  *  *  Members of the Monetary Board, the family and friends of Governor Rafael Buenaventura, the organizers of the Finex-Citi Rafael B. Buenaventura Outstanding Finance Awards led by Mr. Sanjiv Vohra of Citi and Mr. Eduardo Francisco of Finex Foundation, distinguished finalists, my colleagues at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, special guests from the academic, banking and finance communities, good evening.
Given our uncertainty about the level of potential supply and thus the level of the output gap, observing stable inflation will also be particularly important. Moreover, the low current levels of inflation and resource utilization imply, from my perspective, that the welfare costs of the economy running stronger than expected for a while are considerably lower than the costs of its running weaker.