. 8 percent, which shows that prices other than those of energy have also been rising. in terms of price hikes for items other than energy and related goods, i am focusing on the price changes in digital appliances ( chart 5 ). 1 digital appliances refer to the following cpi items : tv sets, mobile audio players, electronic dictionaries, video recorders, personal computers ( desktop type ), personal computers ( note type ), pc printers, digital cameras, and video cameras. bis central bankers ’ speeches the cpi for digital appliances has risen by around 30 percentage points, from the range of minus 22 – 23 percent for february 2012 to the range of 6 – 7 percent for february 2014 on a year - on - year basis. this had an indispensable effect on the rise in the core - core cpi. as the background to this, it can be pointed out that prices of digital appliances had fallen to the bottom and fierce price competition in the household electrical appliances industry came to an end. it should not be overlooked that the halt in the price decline of digital appliances is attributable to the fact that prices of these products had become more susceptible to the effects of the yen ’ s depreciation with the increased import penetration ratio. a decline in competitiveness and pricing power in the industry in japan can be pointed out as a reason behind such susceptibility. however, the cpi for digital appliances became more or less flat on a year - on - year basis in the march - april period of 2014 excluding the effects of the consumption tax hike as the yen ’ s depreciation paused, and the core - core cpi for the kuarea of tokyo in may declined by 0. 2 percentage point from the previous month on the same basis. the effects of the halt to the yen ’ s depreciation trend on future developments in prices should be monitored carefully. c. overseas economic and financial developments as i just mentioned, japan ’ s economy is expected to continue growing at a pace above its potential as a trend due to the ongoing firm domestic demand, while it will be affected by the front - loaded increase and subsequent decline in demand prior to and after the consumption tax hike. the probability of this scenario will be enhanced by the moderate increase in exports led by the recovery of overseas economies, particularly advanced economies. in this regard, recent developments in overseas economies will support japan ’ s economy through exports ; for example, the u. s. economy has been recovering moderately

period of 2015 on 7 july 2015. this procedure will also remain in use for the eurosystem ’ s special - term refinancing operations with a maturity of one maintenance period, which will continue to be conducted for as long as needed, and at least until the end of the second quarter of 2015. the fixed rate in these special - term refinancing operations will be the same as the mro rate prevailing at the time. furthermore, we decided to conduct the three - month longer - term refinancing operations ( ltros ) to be allotted until the end of the second quarter of 2015 as fixed rate tender procedures with full allotment. the rates in these three - month operations will be fixed at the average rate of the mros over the life of the respective ltro. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. real gdp in the euro area rose by 0. 3 %, quarter on quarter, in the second quarter of 2013, following six quarters of falling output. developments in survey - based confidence indicators up to october are consistent with continued, albeit modest, growth in the second half of the year. looking ahead, output is expected to continue to recover at a slow pace, in particular owing to a gradual improvement in domestic demand supported by the accommodative monetary policy stance. euro area economic activity should, in addition, benefit from a gradual strengthening of demand for exports. furthermore, the overall improvements in financial markets seen since last year appear to be gradually working their way through to the real economy, as should the progress made in fiscal consolidation. in addition, real incomes have benefited recently from generally lower energy price inflation. this being said, bis central bankers ’ speeches unemployment in the euro area remains high, and the necessary balance sheet adjustments in the public and private sectors will continue to weigh on economic activity. the risks surrounding the economic outlook for the euro area continue to be on the downside. developments in global money and financial market conditions and related uncertainties may have the potential to negatively affect economic conditions. other downside risks include higher commodity prices, weaker than expected domestic demand and export growth, and slow or insufficient implementation of structural reforms in euro area countries. according to eurostat ’ s flash estimate, euro area annual hicp inflation decreased in october 2013 to 0. 7 %, from 1. 1 % in september. this decline was stronger than expected and reflected, in particular, lower food price inflation,