mario draghi : ecb press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 4 september 2014. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council, which was also attended by the commission vice - president, mr katainen. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, the governing council decided today to lower the interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the eurosystem by 10 basis points to 0. 05 % and the rate on the marginal lending facility by 10 basis points to 0. 30 %. the rate on the deposit facility was lowered by 10 basis points to – 0. 20 %. in addition, the governing council decided to start purchasing non - financial private sector assets. the eurosystem will purchase a broad portfolio of simple and transparent asset - backed securities ( abss ) with underlying assets consisting of claims against the euro area non - financial private sector under an abs purchase programme ( abspp ). this reflects the role of the abs market in facilitating new credit flows to the economy and follows the intensification of preparatory work on this matter, as decided by the governing council in june. in parallel, the eurosystem will also purchase a broad portfolio of euro - denominated covered bonds issued by mfis domiciled in the euro area under a new covered bond purchase programme ( cbpp3 ). interventions under these programmes will start in october 2014. the detailed modalities of these programmes will be announced after the governing council meeting of 2 october 2014. the newly decided measures, together with the targeted longer - term refinancing operations which will be conducted in two weeks, will have a sizeable impact on our balance sheet. these decisions will add to the range of monetary policy measures taken over recent months. in particular, they will support our forward guidance on the key ecb interest rates and reflect the fact that there are significant and increasing differences in the monetary policy cycle between major advanced economies. they will further enhance the functioning of the monetary policy transmission mechanism and support the provision of credit to the broad economy. in our analysis, we took into account the overall subdued outlook for inflation, the weakening in the euro area ’ s growth momentum over the recent past and the continued subdued monetary and credit dynamics. today ’ s decisions

bank of japan ’ s september review of monetary and economic trends in japan bank of japan, monthly economic review, 22 / 9 / 97. the consumption tax hike continues to have an impact on japan ’ s economy. production has stayed virtually unchanged. the moderate economic recovery in japan has not been undermined, however, given the continued improvement in income and expenditure which is centered on the business sector. with respect to final demand, public - sector investment has been on a decreasing trend, and housing investment has recently declined significantly. on the other hand, the increasing trend in net exports has continued, and business fixed investment has been rising steadily, particularly in machinery investment, against the background of the recovery in corporate profits. meanwhile, economic indicators for personal consumption have recently been lackluster on the whole, reflecting the continued influence of the consumption tax hike. however, labor market conditions and income formation have been improving, albeit moderately. in these circumstances, industrial production has stayed virtually unchanged. prices have remained stable on the whole, and the growth of monetary aggregates has continued at around 3. 0 per cent year to year. with regard to personal consumption, outlays for travel have continued to increase moderately. with respect to goods, however, sales of passenger cars, electrical appliances, as well as sales at department stores and supermarkets have been below the previous year ’ s level since april, reflecting the continued effects of the consumption tax hike. among leading indicators of business fixed investment, machinery orders have been increasing steadily, although at a somewhat slower pace compared to the sharp rise in the second half of 1996. the increase in construction floor area has recently been weak, but it is basically following a moderate recovery trend. with respect to housing investment, housing starts in terms of the seasonally - adjusted annual rate have continued to decline following the surge in demand in the second half of 1996 ahead of the consumption tax hike. housing starts had stayed at around 1. 5 million since spring 1997, but declined to 1. 34 million in june and to 1. 24 million in july, the lowest level recorded since september 1985. regarding public - sector investment, the amount of public works contracted peaked as orders included in the supplementary budget for fiscal 1996 were concluded, and the amount has followed a decreasing trend, reflecting the restrained budget for fiscal 1997. against the background of steady overseas demand and the yen ’ s depreciation to date, real exports have stayed firm since july after having increased significantly in the second quarter. real imports,