on the price front, the year - on - year rate of change in consumer prices ( all items less fresh food ) has been negative, due to the reversal of the previous year ’ s movements in energyrelated and durable consumer goods. the rise in some market indicators of inflation expectations has come to a pause ; however, indicators including the surveys conducted on households and economists suggest a rise on the whole. in may, the year - on - year rate of change in consumer prices in the tokyo metropolitan area registered positive for the first time in four years and two months. going forward, the year - on - year rate of change in consumer prices nationwide is likely to gradually turn positive. there remains a high degree of uncertainty concerning japan ’ s economy, including the prospects for the european debt problem and the growth momentum of the u. s. economy as bis central bankers ’ speeches well as the emerging and commodity - exporting economies. the bank will continue to pay close attention to further developments, including those in financial markets. ii. conduct of monetary policy next, i will explain the bank ’ s conduct of monetary policy. in april, the bank introduced quantitative and qualitative monetary easing ( qqe ), aiming to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent in terms of the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index at the earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years. qqe represents a new phase of monetary easing, both in terms of quantity and quality. more concretely, first, the bank changed its main operating target for money market operations from the uncollateralized overnight call rate to the monetary base. on top of this, it will double the monetary base in two years. second, the bank will purchase japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) so that their amount outstanding will increase at an annual pace of about 50 trillion yen. as a result, the amount outstanding is also expected to double in two years. in addition, the average remaining maturity of the bank ’ s jgb purchases has been extended from slightly less than three years to about seven years. third, the bank will purchase exchange - traded funds ( etfs ) and japan real estate investment trusts ( j - reits ) so that their amounts outstanding will increase at an annual pace of about 1 trillion yen and about 30 billion yen, respectively. the bank will continue with qqe, aiming to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent, as long as

unallocated items and discrepancies - 8 - 30 - 35 - 24 memorandum item : balance - of - payments errors and omissions ( 1 ) the data on the overall external position and that of the banking system are derived from the balance of payments and those on the other items from the financial accounts ( stocks are valued at current exchange rates and state sector liabilities are valued at market prices ). the amounts under " unallocated items and discrepancies " include the statistical discrepancies between the two systems of accounts. the assets of the central bank and the liabilities of banks exclude foreign currency swaps. the assets and liabilities of banks exclude the components matched by domestic foreign currency positions, which are included directly in the figures for the state and private sectors. table 3 foreign currency position of the italian non - bank private sector ( billions of lire ) 1. 2. september foreign currency assets 68, 361 102, 296 158, 244 210, 263 242, 180 262, 357 262, 840 1. 1. deposits 1. 1. 1 vis - a - vis non - residents 1. 1. 2 vis - a - vis residents 6, 273 6, 000 8, 802 2, 802 6, 000 17, 605 6, 605 11, 000 25, 907 10, 907 15, 000 32, 222 17, 222 15, 000 39, 804 20, 804 19, 000 45, 182 26, 560 18, 622 1. 2. loans 1. 2. 1 vis - a - vis non - residents 1. 2. 2 vis - a - vis residents 5, 839 5, 839 6, 235 6, 235 8, 710 8, 710 8, 815 8, 815 13, 313 9, 313 4, 000 14, 935 9, 935 5, 000 16, 132 10, 917 5, 215 1. 3. securities 1. 3. 1 vis - a - vis non - residents non - residents 1. 3. 2 certificates of deposit and bonds in foreign currency issued by resident banks 56, 249 56, 249 87, 259 87, 259 131, 929 129, 929 2, 000 175, 541 173, 541 2, 000 196, 645 194, 645 2, 000 207, 618 203, 618 4, 000 201, 526 196, 969 4, 557 foreign currency