a supply system including building production lines of portable terminals. as a result, demand for cell phones increased explosively, and cell phones prevailed rapidly in a short period. consumers have now obtained the convenience of making phone calls any time at any place. also, profit opportunities for telecommunications firms and portable terminal manufacturers have increased, resulting in raising productivity of the economy as a whole. in tapping potential demand, high technology as represented by cell phones would not be the only key. in fact, there are not a few local firms that have succeeded in tapping potential demand by utilizing unique expertise, local specialty goods, and a home - court advantage. while the main players that make such efforts are business managers, as a factor to support such efforts, financial institutions also play a critical role. by focusing on that point, the bank has started a new policy initiative. in closing, let me move on to the bank ’ s conduct of monetary policy. iv. policy actions by the bank of japan the bank ’ s monetary policy since the lehman shock in 2008 can be summarized in three types. first, measures to repair financial markets in response to the financial crisis ; second, aggressive monetary easing in response to the economic plunge ; and third, a new approach toward strengthening the foundations for economic growth. various temporary measures to repair market function first, measures to repair the market function. having been affected by the global financial crisis since the autumn of 2008, the market functioning of japan ’ s financial markets also declined rapidly, although the overall market sentiment has been significantly stable compared with that in the united states and europe. the issuance of cp and corporate bonds became difficult and corporate funding became tight. to cope with such a rapid decline in market functioning, the bank promptly introduced various extraordinary measures such as outright purchases of cp and corporate bonds. subsequently, due partly to the coordinated actions of central banks, the global financial turmoil stabilized and the functioning of japan ’ s financial markets improved, and those measures have been phased out since the end of 2009. ensuing financial market developments illustrate that market transactions have rather become active after the completion of those measures. however, as i have mentioned earlier, due mainly to the fiscal problems in some european countries, strains increased in the u. s. dollar money market in may. therefore, the bank, in coordination with major central banks, re - established the u. s. dollar funds - supplying operations that were once completed in february 2010. including those fiscal and financial developments in europe, there remain the factors that

masayoshi amamiya : japan's economy and monetary policy speech by mr masayoshi amamiya, deputy governor of the bank of japan, at ameeting with local leaders, akita ( via webcast ), 2 december 2020. * * * introduction it is my pleasure to have the opportunity today to exchange views with leaders in administrative, financial, and economic areas in akita prefecture, which is taking place online due to the continuing impact of the novel coronavirus ( covid - 19 ). i would like to take this chance to express my sincere gratitude for your cooperation with the activities of the bank of japan ’ s akita branch. at the outset of this meeting, i would like to talk about the bank ’ s view on economic and financial developments at home and abroad, as well as its thinking behind the conduct of monetary policy since march in response to the impact of covid - 19. in addition, i will explain the purpose of the new facility that the bank recently decided to introduce in order to enhance the resilience of the regional financial system. i. developments in economic activity and prices economic developments i will start by talking about economic developments. japan ’ s economy has picked up with economic activity resuming, although it has remained in a severe situation due to the impact of covid - 19 at home and abroad ( chart 1 ). the gdp growth rate for the april - june quarter marked a significant negative figure of minus 8. 2 percent on a quarter - on - quarter basis but turned positive for the july - september quarter to 5. 0 percent. that said, with the impact of covid - 19 remaining, the recovery has been only moderate and economic activity has been at a low level. what is unique about the current shock is that the pace of economic improvement varies significantly, mainly depending on the industry or size of firms, as well as household attributes. on this basis, i will briefly explain developments in overseas economies and then talk about japan ’ s exports as well as household and corporate sectors in some detail. 1 / 1 bis central bankers'speeches