Yutaka Harada: Economic activity, prices, and monetary policy in Japan

Speech by Mr Yutaka Harada, Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan, at a meeting with business leaders, Yamanashi, 6 March 2019.

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

Central bank speech  | 
12 March 2019

Introduction

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to exchange views with you and for having taken the time to be here despite your busy schedules. It is indeed a great honor to be here today. Please allow me to express my gratitude for your great cooperation with the business operations of the Bank of Japan, particularly of the Kofu Branch.

The Bank introduced quantitative and qualitative monetary easing - or QQE for short - in April 2013 with the aim of achieving the inflation target of 2 percent, and since then has strengthened the QQE framework.

Today, I first would like to explain the achievements thus far of the Bank's monetary easing measures, excluding those regarding prices, and then describe recent developments in the economy and prices.