risks to this forecast are to the upside. in particular, upward pressure on inflation could materialize if final demand were to exceed the underlying productive capacity of the economy for a sustained period. the rate of resource utilization is high, as can be seen most clearly in the tightness of the labor market. indeed, anecdotal reports suggest that businesses are having difficulty recruiting well - qualified workers in a range of occupations. measures of labor compensation, though still growing at a moderate pace, have shown some signs of acceleration over the past year, likely in part the result of tight labor market conditions. to be sure, faster growth in nominal labor compensation does not necessarily portend higher inflation. increases in compensation may be offset by higher labor productivity or absorbed – at least for a time – by a narrowing of firms ’ profit margins rather than passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. in these circumstances, gains in nominal compensation would translate into gains in real compensation as well. underlying productivity trends appear generally favorable, despite the recent slowing in some measures, and the markup of prices over unit labor costs is high by historical standards, so such an outcome is certainly possible. moreover, if the economy grows at a moderate pace for a time, as seems most likely, pressures on resource utilization should ease. however, a less benign possibility is that tight product markets might allow firms to pass some or all of their higher labor costs through to prices. in this case, increases in nominal compensation would not translate into increased purchasing power for workers but would add to inflation pressures. thus, the high level of resource utilization remains an important upside risk to continued progress in reducing inflation. in regard to monetary policy, the federal open market committee has left its target for the federal funds rate unchanged, at 5 - 1 / 4 percent, since last june. to date, the incoming data have supported the view that the current stance of policy is likely to foster sustainable economic growth and a gradual ebbing in core inflation. because core inflation is above the levels most conducive to the achievement of sustainable growth and price stability, the committee indicated in the statement following its recent meeting that its predominant policy concern remains the risk that inflation will fail to moderate as expected. however, the uncertainties around the outlook have increased somewhat in recent weeks. consequently, the committee also indicated that future policy decisions will depend on the evolution of the outlook for both inflation and economic growth, as implied by incoming information. thank you. i would be happy

travel and tourism sectors has virtually evaporated. domestic demand has been weak in many asian economies, reflecting the deterioration in employment and income conditions. in the short term, we need to contain the spread of covid - 19 while supporting economic activity. to this end, support measures for households and businesses that have been hard - hit need to be continued. but it is in times like these that we should keep moving forward and envision what may come after the crisis, to prepare ourselves for the next shock and achieve sustainable economic growth. in this sense, it is important for asia to continue strengthening its role in the global economy as factory asia and consumer asia. b. enhancing resilience and agility strong economic growth in the asian region has supported the global economy in its recovery from the global financial crisis. in 2008, asian economies accounted for about 30 percent of global gdp, but by 2019, this had increased to about 40 percent. therefore, it is only natural that the world looks to asia with expectation for its support and for it to be a driver of economic recovery in the current economic downturn. what, then, needs to be done for the asian economy to regain momentum toward growth? two key concepts that often appear in recent debates are " resilience " and " agility " ; i. e., resilience against shocks and agility in terms of responding to sudden changes in environment. 1 i will elaborate on asian firms'responses based on these two concepts. factory asia the recent pandemic has exposed certain vulnerabilities in asian supply chain networks, as many businesses have suffered disruptions to their supply chains and a decline in production. in response to this challenge, asian firms have already started to reform their supply chains. in this regard, firms are not focusing exclusively on reshoring. rather, in order to make their supply chains more resilient to shocks, they are looking to disperse and diversify production locations and procurement sources, and to establish multi - layered supply chains. firms are also strengthening supply chain management to enhance agility in terms of responding to changes in environment, by visualizing the procurement, production, and supply situations of their particular business bases. asia has traditionally been susceptible to supply chain disruptions caused by natural disasters, and some asian firms had strengthened their supply chains accordingly. these firms have been rewarded with a swift recovery from the recent shock. moving forward, more will leverage the lessons learned recently and take measures to further strengthen their