Second, we extended short-term provisional advances to the national government and purchased government securities in the secondary market to help finance its COVID-19-response programs. In sum, the BSP has injected over PhP2.2 trillion or approximately USD 41.9 billion into the financial system. This is equivalent to about 11.2 percent of the GDP.
One cautionary note, though, is that readings on housing activity – a sector that has been recovering since 2011 – have remained disappointing so far this year and will bear watching. Conditions in the labor market have continued to improve. The unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in April, about 1-1/4 percentage points below where it was a year ago.