be able to act as a sort of safety net by providing accommodative financial conditions, rather than as a means of directly promoting such reforms. in the medium to long term, maintaining accommodative financial conditions will provide the foundations for normalization of economic activity and achievement of the price stability target. so far, although weakness has been observed, there seem to be no major problems regarding corporate financing, partly due to the effects of various liquidity provisions by the bank. however, uncertainty remains high regarding the outlook, and if the pace of economic recovery is much slower than expected, it is not possible to completely rule out the risk that firms'positive stance toward the outlook will be lost or that corporate bankruptcies and discontinuation of businesses will increase. to avoid such a situation, i believe that it remains necessary in the covid - 19 era to maintain an accommodative monetary policy stance while carefully monitoring economic developments. thank you for your attention. economic activity, prices, and monetary policy in japan speech at a meeting with local leaders in nagano ( via webcast ) november 12, 2020 adachi seiji member of the policy board bank of japan chart 1 daily confirmed new cases of covid - 19 thous. euro area thous. china united states major emerging countries japan 1 20 jan. 3 20 mar. 5 20 may july7 20 9 20 sept. 1 20 jan. 3 20 mar. 5 20 may 7 20 july 9 20 sept. notes : 1. figures for the united states are from the centers for disease control and prevention ( cdc ). those for taiwan and hong kong are from the taiwan ministry of health and welfare and the hong kong centre for health protection, department of health, respectively. figures for japan are from the ministry of health, labour and welfare, while those for the euro area, major emerging countries except taiwan and hong kong, as well as china are from the world health organization ( who ). figures are 7 - day backward moving averages. 2. major emerging countries include the nies, asean, india, latin america, the middle east, russia, and turkey. sources : ceic ; ministry of health, labour and welfare. chart 2 overseas economies : real gdp % 19 / q2 19 / q3 19 / q4 20 / q1 20 / q2 united states 3. 0 2. 2 1. 5 2. 6 2. 4 - 5. 0 - 31. 4 euro area

jean - claude trichet : interview with the wall street journal interview of mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, with the wall street journal, published on 23 march 2009. * * * wsj : you ’ ve shown a bit of optimism recently, saying we could see a moderate recovery in 2010. where will recovery come from? mr. trichet : i have not been alone in mentioning that in europe 2009 will be a very, very difficult year. as regards 2010, i always mentioned not only our own diagnosis, but the fact that an overwhelming majority of observers, economists and international institutions would say that in the course of next year there will be a progressive gradual recovery. it ’ s neither an optimistic vision nor a pessimistic vision. it ’ s the present, realistic vision. wsj : federal reserve chairman ben bernanke spoke recently about “ green shoots ” in the u. s. economy. do you see similar green shoots in the euro - zone economy? mr. trichet : again, we have to accept that in europe as in the world 2009 is a difficult year and you have, in the present situation, elements that you could see as very negative. you have some that are a little bit reassuring on both sides of the atlantic. but all taken into account, we are still in a situation where the trend is downward. wsj : what will turn the downward trend around? mr. trichet : i see four main possible factors behind a progressive gradual recovery in 2010 : first the expansionary effect of the fall in the price of oil and commodities ; second the activation of the economies through discretionary fiscal policies and automatic stabilizers which are very substantial ; third the extraordinary measures that have been taken to put the financial sector back on its feet : on this side of the atlantic the commitments of the executive branches in the form of recapitalization, guarantees and other options represent around 23 % of the gdp ; fourth the policies of the central banks : as an example for the ecb and the eurosystem the size of the balance sheet represents now 16 % of the gdp when it was 10 % before the crisis, namely an increase of 600 billon euros ( approximately 800 billon dollars ). a number of other factors are also very important in the perspective of a medium - term recovery : the continued surge of technology, the considerable growth potential of the emerging economies. but as regards a relatively prompt recovery what is decisive