circumstances, unlike in the past, it has become quite difficult for exports to act as the driving force of japan ’ s economy even amid the situation of the yen ’ s depreciation. it must be noted, however, that real exports have started to rise noticeably recently. moreover, an increasing number of firms has announced plans to expand domestic business, as some manufacturers have been shifting their production back to japan and making import substitutions. amid the situation of the yen ’ s depreciation, developments that will yield a virtuous cycle in the economy are beginning to be observed steadily, and i believe they will continue to gradually strengthen as the yen stabilizes. in determining the outlook for production and exports, it is also necessary to observe such changes in corporate behavior. ii. the bank ’ s monetary policy a. expansion of qqe next, i would like to discuss the bank ’ s monetary policy. at the monetary policy meeting held on october 31, 2014, the bank decided to expand qqe, which it introduced in april 2013. the specific measures of the expansion were as follows. first, the bank decided to accelerate the pace of increase in the monetary base it provides from “ an annual pace of about 60 – 70 trillion yen ” to “ an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen. ” second, it decided to raise the pace of increase in the amount outstanding of the bank ’ s holdings of japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) from “ an annual pace of about 50 trillion yen ” to “ an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen. ” at the same time, the bank decided to extend the average remaining maturity of its jgb purchases from “ about seven years ” to a flexible range of “ about seven to ten years. ” and third, it decided to purchase exchangetraded funds ( etfs ) and japan real estate investment trusts ( j - reits ) so that their amounts outstanding would be tripled to annual paces of “ about 3 trillion yen ” and “ about 90 billion yen, ” respectively. around the time of the bank ’ s expansion of qqe in october 2014, somewhat weak developments in demand following the consumption tax hike and the substantial decline in crude oil prices had been exerting downward pressure on prices. the bank considered that, if such downward pressure remained, albeit in the short term, there was a risk that the emergence from the deflationary mindset, which had been progressing steadily, might be delayed. to preempt

at the level of each of the economies, rapid changes of the respective economic weightings of the various continents and of the structure of the global economy all combine as a consequence to make predictions based on past regularities less reliable. consequently, uncertainty tends to increase and economic and financial risks with a weak or very weak probability, but a strong destabilising potential, appear as the inevitable, and in fact, “ normal ” counterpart to an unprecedented period of economic prosperity. now is not a time to be complacent. fourth, more than ever during a period of accelerated globalisation, central bank credibility is essential for anchoring solidly inflation expectations and for forming a solid base for monetary and financial stability in a brilliant, mobile international economy in which uncertainty and risks cannot be ignored. fifth and finally, it is crucial to deepen and strengthen global governance by exploiting to the full all possibilities offered by all formal and informal institutions that exist and by consolidating global financial stability, not only by unifying the principles and concepts of prudential supervision and regulation, but also by achieving real unification, resulting at the global level from the practical implementation of regulation and supervision. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. selected references baumann, u. and f. di mauro ( 2007 ), globalisation and euro area trade : interaction and challenges, ecb occasional paper series, no 55. borio, c. and filardo, a. ( 2007 ), globalisation and inflation : new cross - country evidence on the global determinants of domestic inflation, bis working papers no. 227. devereux, m. b. and sutherland, a. ( 2007 ), financial globalisation and monetary policy, discussion paper series no 6147, international macroeconomics, centre for economic policy research. ecb ( 2006 ), effects of the rising trade integration of low - cost countries on euro area import prices, box in monthly bulletin, august. ecb ( 2007 ), financial integration in europe, report that can http : / / www. ecb. int / pub / pdf / other / financialintegrationineurope200703en. pdf. be downloaded from : ecb ( 2007 ), financial stability review, june. freeman, r. ( 2006 ), the great doubling : the challenge of the new global labour market, august. imf ( 2006 ), how has globalisation affected inflation?, world economic