And today, the Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. In the financial markets, the Philippines can target a larger portion of ASEAN savings. Here we lag behind Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The same is true for external trade, another potential growth area for the Philippines.
2 The Bank’s view on recent economic and financial developments, determined by the Policy Board at the Monetary Policy Meeting held on December 15, as the basis of monetary policy decisions. BIS Review 107/1998  -2-  Turning to the financial markets, Japanese banks are successfully raising foreign currency funds necessary to cover a huge shortage at the year-end.