would allow wider access to central bank payment and settlement systems both in time and space. in an extreme case in which cbdc provides the same functionality as banknotes as an alternate measure, it could enable everyone to access central bank accounts 24 / 7, year - round. some overseas central banks have started to consider the rationale for or to conduct researches and analyses on cbdc. also, amid the global trend of fintech, some non - bank companies and their services, such as paypal in the united states and wechatpay in china, have built up a large presence in payment and settlement services, and the structure and composition of payment service providers are now changing rapidly. accordingly, some overseas central banks have started to reconsider to whom they should allow access to their payment and settlement systems. as economic globalization and technological innovation advance, the environment surrounding central bank payment and settlement systems is entering a new phase. iii. initiatives taken by the bank of japan the bank of japan has been continuously improving its infrastructure. we established the bojnet in the 1980s, and then introduced rtgs and liquidity - saving features. in 2015, we started full - scale operation of the new boj - net. although economic globalization and technological innovation are causing dramatic changes in payment and settlement infrastructures, we are confident that the boj - net can keep up with such changes and continue serving as a core infrastructure in the new era. at the same time, regarding how central banks should provide their infrastructures under the changing environment, we need to consider various issues. first, there is the issue of how to strike an appropriate balance between central bank money and private - based money in the economy, and between the stability in settlements and private - led innovation. these are classical issues. nonetheless, as new fintech players have increased their presence in payments and settlements, big - data attached to payment and settlement transactions is becoming more important as a source of added - value in various businesses. we will need to focus not only on the classical issue of “ desirable sharing between central bank money and commercial bank money, ” but also on new payment instruments carrying additional information provided by new players such as “ non - bank fintech firms. ” the emergence of these new payment instruments will make things far more complicated. second, it is crucial for central banks to ensure the security of central bank payment and settlement systems, which are the core infrastructure of the economy. we may also need to consider how to manage the information

necessary policy actions. after short - term interest rates in major economies including japan declined to virtually zero, the scope of the operational tools of monetary policy has expanded from a traditional way of “ raising and cutting interest rates ” to the area of unconventional policy tools such as the purchase of various financial assets. therefore, please forgive me if some parts of my speech inevitably become somewhat technical. i. “ the price stability goal in the medium to long term ” numerical expression of price stability i will begin with “ the price stability goal in the medium to long term. ” this is the inflation rate that the bank judges to be consistent with price stability sustainable in the medium to long term. the bank judges it to be “ in a positive range of 2 percent or lower in terms of the year - on - year rate of change in the cpi ” and, more specifically, has set “ a goal at 1 percent for the time being. ” bis central bankers ’ speeches the bank conducts monetary policy based on the principle of currency and monetary control as clearly stipulated in the bank of japan act ; namely, that the policy shall be aimed at “ achieving price stability, thereby contributing to the sound development of the national economy. ” in doing so, the price stability must be of the sort that is sustainable in the medium to long term. then, what kind of state does this “ price stability ” refer to? conceptually, we can express it as “ a state where economic agents such as households and firms may make decisions regarding economic activities without being concerned about the fluctuations in the general price level. ” in the conduct of monetary policy, price stability needs to be expressed in numerical terms. individual central banks express price stability in numerical terms within the context of each country ’ s situation and name the expression differently. examples of such numerical expressions include the bank of england ’ s “ target, ” “ definition of price stability ” adopted by the european central bank and the swiss national bank, and the u. s. federal reserve ’ s previously adopted “ longer - run projection, ” as well as the “ longer - run goal ” it introduced recently. “ understanding, ” “ goal, ” and “ target ” six years ago, in march 2006, the bank introduced its own framework under which it expressed price stability in numerical terms, named “ an understanding of medium - to long - term price stability. ” after undergoing a series of changes in expression, the bank ’ s recent “ understanding ” was “ a positive range of 2 percent or