- tiered system, which i have mentioned, have provided society with. to give an example, it is vital for cbdc to be designed in such a way that users'privacy would be preserved, showing respect for their lives as people. similarly, the sharing of roles between central bank money and private money as well as private firms'capacity for resource allocation and innovation should also be valued. last but not least, the digital features of cbdc carry the potential to create diverse values. how should we utilize cbdc to empower people and firms, and ultimately establish a new ecosystem, which would be brought about by cbdc adoption? exploring cbdc from such a perspective is equally important. closing remarks the main theme of this year's fin / sum is " building a bright future : fintech for happy growth. " underlying this is said to be the hope for and determination to build a better future by striking the right balance between ( 1 ) stable and sustainable economic growth and ( 2 ) people's happiness, while effectively utilizing novel technologies. the bank of japan has been proceeding with the pilot program for cbdc - my topic today - since 2023. we continue to engage in various efforts to envision the future of the overall payment system, including a panel discussion on the future landscape of wholesale payments scheduled to take place here tomorrow. for these efforts to serve as channels to " happy growth, " it is essential that we continue with our dialogue, as drawing on your experiences and wisdom is key to this bright future. we therefore kindly ask for your support as we pave the way forward. thank you for your attention. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

with regard to the outlook, japan ’ s economy is expected to return to a moderate recovery path, mainly on the assumption that domestic demand will remain resilient, partly due to the effects of various economic measures, and that growth rates of overseas economies will gradually pick up. to elaborate on this, exports are expected to pick up, led by the recovery in the u. s. and chinese economies. as for domestic demand, it is expected that public investment will continue trending upward, supported by the effects of various economic measures, and that housing investment will continue to generally pick up. resilience in private consumption is expected to increase gradually, assisted mainly by an improvement in consumer sentiment. business fixed investment – a crucial factor of domestic demand – is projected to remain somewhat weak for the time being in manufacturing, but follow a moderate increasing trend thereafter, partly due to investment related to disaster prevention and energy. in these circumstances, it is anticipated that production will pick up. japan ’ s economy is thus expected to gradually pick up. however, uncertainties remain over the economic outlook, such as downside risks associated with overseas economies, and i am paying greater attention to the downside risks. meanwhile, the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index ( cpi ) for all items less fresh food has been slightly negative, due to the reversal of the previous year ’ s movements in durable consumer goods. as for the outlook, it is likely to remain slightly negative in the short run. this is because over the next few months, while weak economic recovery in 2012 would put downward pressure on prices, upward pressure from factors such as the depreciating trend of the yen is likely to be offset by the downward pressure brought about by the reversal of the rises in prices of televisions and crude oil in 2012. however, the year - on - year rate of change in the cpi is expected to return to around 0 percent, as the downward pressure caused by the reversal of price rises in 2012 subsides, and then become positive, assuming that the negative output gap narrows accompanied by a recovery in the economy. c. path toward achieving the 2 percent price stability target i will next discuss the outlook for the somewhat longer term. in january 2013, the bank decided to introduce the “ price stability target ” and take a decisive step forward to enhance monetary easing with the aim of achieving this target at the earliest possible time. one of the bis central bankers ’ speeches main reasons behind this