Seiji Adachi: Economic activity, prices, and monetary policy in Japan

Speech (via webcast) by Mr Seiji Adachi, Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan, at a meeting with local leaders, Oita, 1 December 2021.

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

1. Developments regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

I would like to begin my speech by talking about developments regarding COVID-19.

The number of confirmed new cases of COVID-19 continues to move up and down within each country and region and varies considerably across them. It has decreased to a low level on the whole from summer 2021. Currently, new cases are resurging significantly in European countries as well as Russia, and are also rising in the United States. On the other hand, the status of infections for most of Asia and Latin America is relatively moderate (Chart 1). Meanwhile, although some emerging economies are falling behind in vaccinations, full vaccination rates are high in many advanced economies. The significant global drop in severe cases and confirmed deaths can be regarded as a positive sign.

The number of new cases in Japan is seeing great improvement, as evidenced by the weekly average declining to a considerable extent recently after soaring well above 22,000 persons in mid-August.

That said, the situation warrants careful attention, as concern over the spread of a new variant is increasing at the moment.