. the bank has enhanced a wide range of its monetary easing measures since march and implemented the following three measures in response to the instability in financial markets accompanying the spread of covid - 19 as well as concern over financial strains faced by firms stemming from the decrease in sales due to restrictions on economic activity ( chart 9 ). first, the bank introduced the special program to support financing in response to the novel coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) in order to support financing, mainly of firms. the total size of this program will be about 130 trillion yen. specifically, this program consists of ( 1 ) purchases of cp and corporate bonds with an upper limit of about 20 trillion yen and ( 2 ) the special fundssupplying operations to facilitate financing in response to the novel coronavirus ( covid19 ), which is a fund - provisioning measure with a size of up to about 110 trillion yen to encourage lending to firms by financial institutions. through the latter operation, the bank provides funds on favorable terms to private financial institutions that make loans in response to covid - 19, which links up with the government's economic measures to provide effectively interest - free and unsecured loans, mainly to small firms through private financial institutions. second, to maintain stability in financial markets, the bank has adopted a framework through which further ample yen and foreign currency funds can be provided in a flexible manner. as for the yen funds, with a view to maintaining stability in the bond market and stabilizing the entire yield curve at a low level, the bank decided to purchase the necessary amount of japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) without setting an upper limit. regarding foreign currency funds, the bank has provided u. s. dollar funds in cooperation with five other major central banks. third, the bank has been actively purchasing exchange - traded funds ( etfs ) and japan real estate investment trusts ( j - reits ) to lower risk premia in asset markets ; in other words, to prevent a deterioration in firms'and households'sentiment through volatility in asset markets with the aim of providing support to forward - looking economic activity. these powerful monetary easing measures have exerted positive effects. although financial and foreign exchange markets, which were highly volatile from march through april, remain nervous, tension has eased. moreover, even though corporate funding conditions are still severe, the environment for funding has eased owing to the various measures taken by the bank and the government, as well as active efforts made by financial

of participants and a complexity in market structures across the globe. regarding the approach, guy debelle raised an important point in his speech last november, and let me repeat it here : history has shown that “ the more prescriptive it becomes the easier it is to get around [ because ] rules are easier to arbitrage than principles. ” 4 i fully support his views. b. collaboration between the public sector and the private sector the second key concept of the global code is that continuous collaboration between the public sector and the private sector is indispensable. the foreign exchange market has evolved through close collaboration between the public and private sectors. for example, the foreign exchange committees in the major financial centers typically comprise both central bankers and private - sector participants. work on the global code has also achieved progress through a public sector - private sector partnership. the mpg, which consists of both sell - side and buy - side institutions, has been providing valuable insight based on its members ’ expertise in market practices and innovation. it would be desirable that innovations led by the private sector continue to evolve under the appropriate code of conduct, thereby improving market functioning. the public sector should endeavor to align the private sector ’ s incentives appropriately to support further market innovation and sound functioning of the foreign exchange market. bank for international settlements ( 1999 ), “ market liquidity : research findings and selected policy implications, ” cgfs publications no 11. see guy debelle, “ the global code of conduct for the foreign exchange market, ” speech at the fx week europe conference in london on november 25, 2015. available at http : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2015 / spag - 2015 – 11 – 25. html. bis central bankers ’ speeches c. user - friendliness the third key concept is that the global code should be succinct, clear, and easy to use. the code becomes valuable only when market participants make good use of and adhere to it in their day - to - day business at the practical level. in addition, bearing in mind the existence of diverse participants and diverse business models, i would like to emphasize the importance of clearly addressing what market participants can do under the code. this is to prevent over - cautious behavior of market participants which could be detrimental to fostering well - functioning markets. as an initiative to enhance market functioning through clearer dialogue among market participants, the tokyo foreign exchange market committee developed the “ tokyo blue book ” in april last