the debtor about credit, budgeting, and financial management ”. it serves three purposes. first, it examines the ways to solve current financial problems. second, by educating about the costs of misusing a credit, it improves financial management. third, it encourages the distressed people to access the formal financial system. as per the all india debt and investment survey, 2003, nearly a fourth of the households were indebted in 2002. the per cent of indebtedness households in rural areas increased sharply from 23 in 1991 to 27 in 2003 ; the corresponding figures for urban areas during the same period were 19 and 18, respectively. as per the nsso survey ( 2003 ), out of 89. 35 million farmer households, 43. 42 million ( 48. 6 % ) were reported to be indebted. farmer ’ s indebtedness was highest in andhra pradesh followed by tamil nadu and punjab. the average outstanding loan per farmer household was highest in punjab, followed by kerala, haryana, andhra pradesh and tamil nadu. the report on the situational assessment of farmers ( nss 59th round - 2003 ) estimated that 64. 4 % farmer households are indebted in kerala as against the national average of 48. 6 %. the major reasons for arrears in repayment reported include high cost of cultivation, fall in prices of agricultural produce and crop failures. opening of credit counselling centres such as these can certainly benefit the people. earlier, there were reports of farmers committing suicides in some parts of the country due to their financial liabilities. through the provision of timely and professional advice, common people can be helped to manage their debt, improve money management skills and gain access to the structured financial system. counselling can help solve current financial problems, create awareness about the costs of misusing a credit, can improve financial management and help develop realistic spending plans. debt counselling / credit counselling can be both preventive and curative. in case of preventive counselling, the centres could provide awareness regarding cost of credit, availability of backward and forward linkages, where warranted, etc. the clients could be encouraged to avail of credit on the basis of their repaying capacity. preventive counselling can be through the media, workshops and seminars. in the case of curative counselling, the clients may approach the counselling centres to work out individual debt management plans for resolving their unmanageable debt portfolio. here, the centres could work out

pandemic, they have recently become more pronounced due to factors such as japan's baby boomer generation - - i. e., those born in the late 1940s - - exiting the labor market. against this underlying trend of tightening labor market conditions, the significant rise in import prices after the start of the pandemic triggered a major change in the behavior and mindset based on the assumption that wages and prices will not increase easily. a survey the bank conducted around the start of the year as part of its review of monetary policy from a broad perspective revealed changes in firms'wage - and price - setting behavior. please take a look at chart 7. regarding their recent situation, more than 80 percent of firms reported that the difficulties in passing on higher costs to selling prices have eased, and around 90 percent reported that they have shifted their stance toward raising wages. prices of a wide range of goods and services have begun to rise moderately recently, in reflection of the increase in wages. against this background, the bank judges that the sustainable and stable achievement of the 2 percent price stability target is now within sight. achievement of the 2 percent target and economic stabilization so, with the achievement of the 2 percent target, what kind of changes can be expected in japan's economy? in an economy where the 2 percent target has been achieved, it becomes easier to stabilize the economy through monetary policy, and this in turn supports the economic activity of firms and households. monetary policy affects economic activity mainly through changes in real interest rates, that is, nominal interest rates minus the expected rates of inflation. when inflation expectations are 2 percent, it becomes possible to lower real short - term interest rates even into negative territory by reducing nominal short - term interest rates, facilitating the stimulation of demand. under deflation and low inflation, japan's economy faced the zero lower bound, a situation in which the bank was unable to sufficiently lower real interest rates by guiding the short - term policy interest rate. against this background, the bank deployed a wide variety of unconventional monetary policy measures. these included conducting large - scale jgb purchases to push down long - term interest rates and keeping the short - term policy interest rate slightly negative. by doing so, the bank further lowered real interest rates, including long - term rates, and thereby stimulated the economy. according to various quantitative analyses conducted in the review of monetary policy from a broad perspective, the unconventional monetary policy measures pushed up economic activity and prices to some extent. it should be