hamad al - sayari : a brief overview of the saudi arabian banking sector speech by his excellency hamad al - sayari, governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency, at the opening of a branch of the national bank of kuwait, jeddah, 6 may 2006. * * * dear audience, it gives me great pleasure to be here tonight to inaugurate the branch of the national bank of kuwait ( nbk ) in jeddah, a city which has long been known for embracing the business sector due to its closeness to the sacred places and its unique location on the red sea. the commencement of nbk of its banking operations in the kingdom of saudi arabia marks further consolidation of cordial relations between the two brotherly countries ( saudi arabia and kuwait ). this is one of the fruits of mutual gulf work which the leaderships of the two countries are keen to enhance. dear brothers, the inauguration of nbk branch comes at a time when the kingdom is witnessing robust economic performance. in 2005, the saudi economy grew in real terms by 6. 5 percent ; the private sector registered a real growth of 6. 6 percent. what is reassuring is that the private sector has become the main impetus of the saudi economy. its average growth rate for the past years stood at 5. 3 percent. this is an incarnation of the wise measures adopted by the government under the leadership of the custodian of the two holy mosques to carry out more structural reforms ( institutional and regulatory ) which we have begun to feel their positive effects in all aspects of economy. it will be appropriate here to say a few words about the dynamic and crucial role played by the banking sector in the kingdom, which is manifested in the substantial increase in the credit extended to the private sector which grew by 29 percent annually during 2003 – 2005 ; and it amounted to rls 436 billion at the end of 2005. as a result of the expansion in banking business, the assets of the banking sector increased by 14. 4 percent annually during the past three years ( 2003 – 2005 ). at the end of the first quarter of 2006, they stood at rls 797. 4 billion, constituting about 70 percent of the kingdom ’ s economy. deposits with the banking sector rose by 13. 7 percent annually during the past three years, and they amounted to rls 521. 5 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2006. the positive indicators of the banking sector which rest on the

haruhiko kuroda : crude oil prices and price stability speech by mr haruhiko kuroda, governor of the bank of japan, at the japan national press club, tokyo, 27 february 2015. * * * accompanying charts can be found at the end of the speech or on the bank of japan ’ s website. introduction today, i am very pleased to appear before the venerable japan national press club. the bank of japan has been carrying out quantitative and qualitative monetary easing ( qqe ) to achieve a price stability target of 2 percent at the earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years. amid this, japan ’ s economy has continued its moderate recovery trend, with prices rising accompanying the increase in corporate profits and employee income. however, the year - on - year rate of increase in the consumer price index ( cpi ) has slowed recently, reflecting the substantial decline in crude oil prices since last summer. in that situation, some opine that the bank should take some time to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent while others think that 2 % inflation is hard for the bank to achieve in the first place. today, i will first briefly discuss the current situation of and outlook for japan ’ s economy. then i will explain the recent conduct of monetary policy, mainly the thinking behind the price stability target and policy responses to the decline in crude oil prices. i. the current situation of and outlook for japan ’ s economy to start with, let me talk about the current situation of and outlook for japan ’ s economy. japan ’ s economy has continued its moderate recovery trend. regarding the outlook, it is likely to continue growing at a pace above its potential given that exports are expected to increase moderately and that domestic demand is likely to remain firm. positive effects from the decline in crude oil prices and the government ’ s stimulus package that was formulated at the end of last year are likely to boost such favorable developments. according to the bank ’ s interim assessment in january of the october 2014 outlook for economic activity and prices ( hereafter the outlook report ), the policy board members ’ forecasts of the real gdp growth rate was minus 0. 5 percent for fiscal 2014, but 2. 1 percent for fiscal 2015, and 1. 6 percent for fiscal 2016 ( chart 1 ). i will discuss the following two key points in some detail. the first one is developments in exports and production in the corporate sector, and the second is developments in wages and