While the federal government would be racking up a historically high stock of debt under the fiscal assumptions in our counterfactual, Canadian households would be doing the opposite. By 2015, household debt as a share of GDP would have been more than 20 percentage points lower than it is today, while government debt would be nearly 40 percentage points higher.
Now, I want to ask all of you: are we ready to do the best we can as central bankers in 2010!? I am very happy to hear that! Like you, I also believe that the men and women of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are prepared to meet the challenges that will come our way in 2010.