cpi inflation rate ( excluding fresh food ) turned positive in june for the first time in 14 months, accelerating to plus 0. 8 percent. the outlook for economic activity and prices has improved and stock prices have risen by more than 30 percent since the beginning of the year. while these should be factors that lead to increases in long - term interest rates, japan ’ s long - term interest rates have declined from about 0. 8 percent as of the beginning of the year to less than 0. 7 percent. these rates have declined since end - may, even in a situation of long - term interest rates in the united states and many other countries having substantially increased across the board. the break - even inflation rate and expected inflation rates judged from various surveys have been increasing. thus, the qqe has been exerting its intended effects and japan has been steadily moving toward overcoming deflation. concluding remarks the qqe is an unprecedented policy, in that it aims to increase inflation expectations in a situation where there is no room to further reduce nominal interest rates. while this is a daunting challenge, developments thus far have been encouraging. with the aim of achieving the 2 percent price stability target, the boj will continue with the qqe as long as it is necessary for maintaining that target in a stable manner. thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

for example, we have introduced and tailored our macroprudential mortgage measures, we have added to our consumer protection code, strengthened the requirements of the arrears framework and worked with industry to enhance supports they offer. all of that has led to a position where we now have one of the strongest frameworks in europe to help us deliver better outcomes for consumers. these measures, and positive developments in the irish economy in recent years mean households have entered this cycle in a more resilient position. the macroprudential measures we introduced have limited over - borrowing and over - lending, which was a problem in the past. this means that the household sector as a whole now has a debt to income ratio of 90 per cent, compared to 200 per cent in 2008. this lower indebtedness provides greater resilience in the face of rising interest rates. in addition, the balance sheet of the household sector has been bolstered by record levels of savings, although – of course – these are not distributed equally across households. the strong labour market and record levels of employment have also been supporting income growth. notwithstanding this aggregate resilience of the household sector, given the challenging macro - economic environment, we expect that some people will unfortunately find themselves in financial difficulty. since i was last before you earlier this year, we have continued to progress our phased work with mortgage providers ( and servicers ) and their representative bodies. as we outlined in our update published in april, the initial phase of our work established that, properly applied, the regulatory framework is well - positioned to deliver for consumers in this current context. our analysis has also shown that there is no evidence of discrimination for switching applicants coming from non - banks based purely on where their mortgage is currently held. as we have progressed our current phase of work, we have seen tangible outcomes emerge from individual firms and collectively including : firms have further developed their early warning indicators to improve their identification and proactive engagement with customers who are in, or in danger of, falling into arrears. 4 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches in response to these early warning indicators, firms have introduced a range of measures to help support borrowers including increased resources to support customers. firms have continued to enhance the alternative repayment arrangement supports ( or aras ) for borrowers in or facing arrears including the introduction of fixed rate ara options which has been announced publicly. firms have enhanced borrower communications initiatives on switching and some have launched pro