concerning risks to the outlook, there have been extremely high uncertainties for japan's economy, including the following : developments in overseas economic activity and prices ; developments in the situation surrounding ukraine and in commodity prices ; and the course of covid - 19 at home and abroad and its impact. in this situation, it is necessary to pay due attention to developments in financial and foreign exchange markets and their impact on japan's economic activity and prices. meanwhile, japan's financial system has maintained stability on the whole. although attention is warranted on, for example, the impact of the tightening of global financial conditions, the financial system is likely to remain highly robust on the whole, mainly because financial institutions have sufficient capital bases. regarding financial risks from a longer - term perspective, while there is a possibility that prolonged downward pressure on financial institutions'profits may lead to a gradual pullback in financial intermediation, the vulnerability of the financial system could increase, mainly due to the search for yield behavior. although these risks are judged as not significant at this point, it is necessary to pay close attention to future developments. ii. conduct of monetary policy next, i will explain the bank's conduct of monetary policy. japan's economy is on its way to recovery from a downturn caused by covid - 19 and uncertainties for the economy have been extremely high. on the price front, the year - onyear rate of increase in the cpi is projected to decelerate to a level below 2 percent from fiscal 2023. given such developments in economic activity and prices, the bank will continue with monetary easing, aiming to firmly support japan's economy and thereby achieve the price stability target of 2 percent in a sustainable and stable manner, accompanied by wage increases. thank you. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches

towards foreign financial markets and eventually towards foreign relocation, then that could be activity lost to new zealand. new zealanders ’ unwillingness to provide equity capital has been an incentive for increased direct foreign ownership. in many cases this has been desirable, even inevitable, for expanding companies. one can see a natural progression whereby some new zealand companies gradually outgrow the technical and market limitations of this country, and as they expand into bigger markets, take on more of the ownership attributes of international firms. but if that happens “ prematurely ”, there is an opportunity benefit foregone for new zealand. new zealand ’ s liberal attitude to foreign ownership has brought us many important advantages. we have enjoyed access to the world ’ s capital, to best practice international technologies, to specialised business skills, and to marketing networks. these have brought higher productivity, employment opportunities, and have contributed to our higher growth rates. this also has to do with the much discussed cultural tendency of some new zealand entrepreneurs to grow their business to sales levels of some tens of millions, then exit for the “ bach, boat and bmw ” semi - retirement subculture, leaving overseas investors to expand the business further and develop its full value internationally. gdp is a measure of what is produced in new zealand, while national income ( which used to be called gnp ) measures the fruits of production that actually accrue to new zealand residents. in 2005, national income was around $ 10 billion lower than gdp, as a significant part of gdp accrued to the overseas owners of new zealand - based companies. ultimately, it is national income that matters for the overall economic wellbeing of new zealanders. the wedge between gdp and national income has some quite complex welfare implications for government, which has to balance how much its policies aim to promote activity in new zealand, or activity owned by new zealanders, whoever or wherever they may be. one particular consequence is seen in our current account deficit, a measure of the external financing required by the country ’ s investment - savings imbalance. in recent years about half the deficit has been represented by the trade imbalance. the other half has mainly been the imbalance of income earned by foreigners in new zealand compared with that earned by new zealanders abroad. measurement problems apart, this appears to have been growing as a result of recent investment trends. a further decline in the ownership share of new zealand business will worsen this deficit and put the balance of payments under continued pressure. interestingly, our net