Yukitoshi Funo: Economic activity and prices and monetary policy in Japan

Speech by Mr Yukitoshi Funo, Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan, at a meeting with business leaders, Kochi, 7 November 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

I. Recent Economic and Price Developments

A. Overseas Developments

I would like to begin my speech by talking about overseas economies. The business sentiment of manufacturing firms on a global basis has maintained its improving trend, although it recently has deteriorated somewhat, and the world trade volume has continued to recover. In this situation, overseas economies have continued to grow firmly on the whole.