ben s bernanke : the federal reserve's balance sheet – an update speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the federal reserve board conference on key developments in monetary policy, washington dc, 8 october 2009. the original speech, which contains various links to the documents mentioned, can be found on the us federal reserve system ’ s website. * * * to fight a recession, the standard prescription for a central bank is to lower its target shortterm interest rate, thereby easing financial conditions and supporting economic growth. in the current downturn, however, the federal reserve has faced two historically unusual constraints on policy. first, the financial crisis, by increasing credit risk spreads and inhibiting normal flows of financing and credit extension, has likely reduced the degree of monetary accommodation associated with any given level of the federal funds rate target, perhaps significantly. second, since december, the targeted funds rate has been effectively at its zero lower bound ( more precisely, in a range between 0 and 25 basis points ), eliminating the possibility of further stimulating the economy through cuts in the target rate. to provide additional support to the economy despite these limits on traditional monetary policy, the federal open market committee ( fomc ) and the board of governors have taken a number of actions and initiated a series of new programs that have increased the size and changed the composition of the federal reserve's balance sheet. i thought it would be useful this evening to review for you the most important elements of the federal reserve's balance sheet, as well as some aspects of their evolution over time. as you'll see, doing so provides a convenient means of explaining the steps the federal reserve has taken, beyond conventional interest rate reductions, to mitigate the financial crisis and the recession, as well as how those actions will be reversed as the economy recovers. i laid out some of these points in april at a conference sponsored by the federal reserve bank of richmond, but a lot has happened in the intervening period and so an update seems timely. 1 for those of you who might be interested in learning more about the federal reserve's policy strategy, by the way, an excellent source of information is a feature of the board's website titled " credit and liquidity programs and the balance sheet. " 2 this source provides extensive and regularly updated information on our programs and goes well beyond the basic balance sheet data that we publish every week. 3 to get

kazumasa iwata : the current state of the japanese economy and its outlook excerpt of a speech by mr kazumasa iwata, deputy governor of the bank of japan, at a meeting with business leaders, niigata, 7 march 2007. * * * introduction today, as a representative of the bank of japan, i am pleased to have this opportunity to present the bank's view on the current state of the japanese economy and its outlook. i would also like to explain the bank's decision to raise the policy interest rate at its monetary policy meeting ( mpm ) in february as well as the thinking behind its conduct of monetary policy. i. overseas economic and financial developments let me start with overseas economies. in the united states, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2. 0 - 2. 5 percent over the last three quarters with housing investment continuing to cool significantly. however, spillover effects from the housing adjustments have been limited, and private consumption has continued to show solid growth. as for price developments, the rates of increase in the core consumer price index ( cpi ) and in the core personal consumption expenditure ( pce ) deflator have been at relatively high levels. both upside and downside risks currently coexist in the u. s. economy, surrounding the inflation situation and the economic growth rate, respectively. nevertheless, given the robustness and the flexibility of the economy it is likely to avoid a significant slowdown in the growth rate and to realize a soft landing, returning to its potential growth path from the current 2. 0 - 2. 5 percent by late 2007, with a gradual decline in the rate of inflation. in the euro area, economic recovery continues to be solid, while in china and india strong expansion is continuing on the back of growth in demand both at home and abroad. overseas economies taken as a whole continue to exhibit strong growth. at the g - 7 meeting held about a month ago, there was a consensus view that the world economy is likely to keep expanding with more balanced growth. turning to global financial markets, a plunge in the chinese stock market at the end of february resulted in large fluctuations in stock prices worldwide and higher volatility in asset prices. up until then, volatility in asset prices had been very low internationally, resulting in tighter credit spreads and smaller term premiums. with investors appearing " overly complacent " about asset price changes and various other risks, a situation developed