Consequently, GDP growth accelerated steadily, while inflation eased gradually from the double-digit rates of the seventies and eighties. And the Philippines started to be recognized as one of the new tiger economies of Asia. But the good times did not last. In 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis came. Fortunately, the Bangko Sentral had instituted structural and banking reforms by then.
These reforms sustained Philippine banks through the crisis in spite of higher problem loans. 1  “He who does not look back to where he came from will never see his destination.”  2  Various CBP and BSP Annual Reports; Lamberte, M. (2002) “Central banking in the Philippines: Then, now and the future”. PIDS Discussion Paper 2002–10.