gent sejko : do crises change economic fundamentals in see speech by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the conference “ do crises change economic fundamentals in see? ”, hosted by the bank of albania, organised in cooperation with the south east european studies at oxford, tirana, 30 october 2015. * * * your excellency prime minister, dear governor hamza and senior central bank representatives, your excellencies ambassadors, dear guests, friends and colleagues, i am delighted to welcome you to the annual conference of the bank of albania organised in cooperation with the south east europe studies at oxford. it is a pleasure to see that this cooperation brings together old and new partners. this has been a tough year full of challenges for the albanian economy, consequently for the work of the bank of albania. the full recovery of economic growth and its further improvement in the future are and remain one of the top priorities of our work for the year. the prolonged crisis has impelled us and homologous institutions across the world to review many of the economic axioms, which we had taken for granted for a long time. it is not by accident that the main topic of the conference focuses on the causality and solutions for long - term problems we are facing during this period. over the five year period, the albanian economy has been growing in positive territory, yet, below its potential. this is a global phenomenon in the post - crisis period, extending across the entire south east europe, which have experienced even lower growth rates. i hope that during this conference we will have the opportunity to analyse in depth the reasons behind this situation, sources that feed it and the difficulties it imposes on the business model and financial intermediation. furthermore, it would be useful to discuss on the options available to policymakers and the way out of this situation, which, i believe, is a temporary situation rather than a long - term economic equilibrium. the bank of albania has been actively using two main instruments, the monetary policy and macro - prudential one, to give its contribution for a swift and systematic closure of the negative output gap in albania. the bank has continued to implement an accommodative monetary policy lowering the key interest rate to the historic 2 % level. notwithstanding the scepticism that has accompanied this process, the lowering of the key interest rate is reflected in a wide range of interest rates in the financial market, including those on

haruhiko kuroda : the bank's semiannual report on currency and monetary control statement by mr haruhiko kuroda, governor of the bank of japan, before the committee on financial affairs, house of councillors, tokyo, 22 november 2016. * * * introduction the bank of japan submits to the diet its semiannual report on currency and monetary control in june and december. i am pleased to have this opportunity today to talk about developments in japan ’ s economy and present an overall review of the bank ’ s conduct of monetary policy. i. economic and financial developments in japan at the monetary policy meeting ( mpm ) held on november 1, the bank released the outlook for economic activity and prices ( outlook report ), which presents its projections for japan ’ s economic activity and prices through fiscal 2018. based on this, i will first explain economic and financial developments in japan. japan ’ s economy has continued its moderate recovery trend, although exports and production have been sluggish due mainly to the effects of the slowdown in emerging economies. with regard to the outlook, it is likely to continue growing at a pace above its potential through the projection period — that is, through fiscal 2018 — with a virtuous cycle from income to spending being maintained in both the corporate and household sectors, on the back of highly accommodative financial conditions and the effects of the government ’ s large - scale stimulus measures, as well as the recovery in overseas economies. on the price front, the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index ( cpi, all items less fresh food ) has been slightly negative due to the effects of the decline in energy prices. as for the outlook, it is likely to be slightly negative or about 0 percent for the time being, and as the aggregate supply and demand balance ( the output gap ) improves and medium - to long - term inflation expectations rise, it is expected to increase toward 2 percent — the price stability target — in the second half of the projection period. the timing of the year - on - year rate of change in the cpi reaching around 2 percent will likely be at the end of the projection period — that is, around fiscal 2018. thus, the momentum toward achieving the price stability target of 2 percent seems to be maintained. however, it is somewhat weaker than the previous outlook made in the july outlook report, and thus developments in prices warrant careful attention going forward. ii. conduct of monetary