of the “ understanding ”, that price stability is in sight, on condition that no problem is identified in examining risk factors, including the accumulation of financial imbalances. and third, the bank decided to establish the asset purchase program. the bank decided on this temporary easing measure to conduct outright purchases of various financial assets, such as japanese government bonds ( jgbs ), and risk assets such as cp, corporate bonds, exchange - traded funds ( etfs ), and japan real estate investment trusts ( j - reits ). the bank has been steadily conducting outright purchases of such financial assets, which are registered on its balance sheet, through the asset purchase program. 2. providing support to strengthen the foundations for economic growth the fund - provisioning measure to support strengthening the foundations for economic growth supplies long - term funds at a low interest rate to private financial institutions in accordance with their efforts in terms of lending and investment to strengthen the foundations for economic growth. the bank has provided 18 examples, including “ environment and energy business ”, “ medical, nursing care, and other health - related business ”, and “ tourism business ”, as areas for which financial institutions ’ lending or bis central bankers ’ speeches investment would be funded by the measure, and in addition to these areas, a large amount of funds has been invested in the area categorized as “ others ”, such as lending or investment to support local industries. the bank decided to implement this measure based on the recognition that the decline in the economic growth trend since the 1990s has been the fundamental cause of deflation and that it was important to support various growth areas to overcome deflation. in other words, it is important not only for japan ’ s economy to achieve a cyclical recovery, but also to make efforts to raise japan ’ s economic growth in the long term. while the government, for its part, also has been implementing measures to support economic growth, such as its “ new growth strategy ” aimed at achieving renewed economic vigor, i believe that the bank ’ s measure to support the economy from the financial side – that is, to provide funds to support strengthening the foundations for economic growth – not only produces effects through the provision of funds, but also sends a strong message and raises awareness about the issues faced by japan ’ s economy. the fund - provisioning measure to support strengthening the foundations for economic growth was decided at the monetary policy meeting ( mpm ) held on june 14 and 15, 2010. on june 8, 2011,

been taking a range of measures in a timely manner, from three main perspectives : ( 1 ) maintaining the functioning of financial and settlement systems ; ( 2 ) ensuring the stability of financial markets ; and ( 3 ) supporting the economy. i would now like to discuss the bank ’ s response to the disaster. bis central bankers ’ speeches 1. maintaining the functioning of financial and settlement systems and ensuring the stability of financial markets in terms of maintaining the functioning of the financial and settlement systems, the bank has been taking all possible measures to provide cash to the disaster areas and to operate japan ’ s major payment and settlement systems as usual, including the bank of japan financial network system, or boj - net – the core settlement system for funds and japanese government securities. in addition, to respond to the increase in precautionary demand for funds, the bank provided ample funds to sufficiently meet market demand. more specifically, on monday, march 14, the first business day after the disaster, the bank provided a total of 21. 8 trillion yen in funds, almost three times the largest daily funds provision during the financial crisis after the failure of lehman brothers. thereafter, the bank continued its ample provision of funds. as a result, the outstanding balance of financial institutions ’ current accounts at the bank marked a historical high of 42. 6 trillion yen as of march 24. comparing this amount to the level before the earthquake of around 17 trillion yen illustrates well the amount of funds provided by the bank after the disaster. due to these measures taken by the bank, financial markets remained stable following the earthquake. 2. further enhancing monetary easing by increasing the amount of the asset purchase program at the mpm held immediately after the earthquake, on march 14, 2011, the bank decided to take measures to further enhance monetary easing, with a view to preempting a deterioration in business sentiment and an increase in risk aversion in financial markets from adversely affecting economic activity. specifically, the bank decided to double the amount of asset purchases – mainly of risk assets, such as cp, corporate bonds, and etfs – through the bank ’ s asset purchase program from about 5 trillion yen to about 10 trillion yen. i also shared the view that it was extremely important for the bank to decide on drastic further monetary easing to fully reassure market participants. i believe that the measure was effective in reassuring market participants in that it prevented a deterioration in business sentiment and an increase in risk aversion in financial markets : for example, iss