Takako Masai: Economic activity, prices and monetary policy in Japan

Speech (via webcast) by Ms Takako Masai, Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan, at a meeting with business leaders, Eastern Hokkaido, 16 November 2020.

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

Central bank speech  | 
19 November 2020
by Takako Masai
PDF full text
(188kb)
  |  15 pages

I. Developments in Economic Activity and Prices

I would like to start my speech with a look at developments in economic activity and prices.

Following the discussion at the Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM) held in October 2020, the Bank of Japan published the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices, or the Outlook Report. In this report, the Bank presented its projections for Japan's economic activity and prices from fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2022.

I will explain developments in economic activity and prices by presenting the main content of the Outlook Report.

A. Overseas Economies

Let me first touch on the current situation of overseas economies. The Bank assesses that they have picked up from a state of significant depression.