judged as necessary, based on the principles i have just mentioned, very careful design is required in actual implementation. deep involvement of a central bank in credit allocation of individual financial markets and individual firms might lead to a paradoxical consequence, such that markets which are functioning relatively normally would be impaired by the central bank ’ s own action. in that regard, it is not the case that more purchases are more effective. in addition, if the central bank incurs losses, it might undermine confidence of general public in the central bank ’ s policy conduct and ultimately in the currency. keeping those points in mind, the bank has laid out three elements to be considered. the first element is a perspective of neutrality, which prevents discretionary credit allocation to individual firms. the second is to conduct the purchases for a necessary period and on an appropriate scale. that would ensure that the purchases are a bridging measure until the market function recovers. the third is to ensure the bank ’ s financial soundness. since the losses of the purchases impose costs on taxpayers, it is important to avoid the concentration of credit risks in a specific firm. the specifics of the cp purchasing scheme is as follows. from the first perspective of neutrality for credit allocation, the bank will purchase from financial institutions that are the counterparties of the bank by fair and transparent means of competitive auctions. in addition, from the second perspective, the purchases will be conducted for a limited time up to march this year, and the bank uses an auction in which somewhat a high minimum bid rate is set. the minimum bid rate is set to be more favorable than the market interest rates when the market is malfunctioning, but not more favorable than the market interest rates of normal times. with this setting, bids will naturally decrease in number as the market function recovers. in addition, from the third perspective of ensuring the bank ’ s financial strength, the bank will purchase a - 1 rated cp that are eligible as the bank ’ s collateral, with setting upper limits by each individual firm. keeping in mind that the outright purchases could be a means of meeting firms ’ funding needs including the redemption of corporate bonds toward the end of a fiscal year, the total amount to be purchased is set so as not to exceed three trillion yen and will be temporarily conducted until the end of march this year. the actual purchases of cp will start this month. in addition, the bank is now considering the outright purchases of corporate bonds with a remaining maturity of up

and the variety of corporate bond issuers has increased. new issuance of corporate bonds has recently been steady except for industries related to electric power, which have faced difficulties with new issuance due to uncertainty concerning their business environment. japan ’ s situation is quite different from that in the united states and europe where credit spreads have widened remarkably and new issuance has decreased sharply since summer. although comprehensive monetary easing was introduced last fall, stock prices and j - reits have not risen, partly due to a deterioration in the external environment. however, some market participants have observed that the bank ’ s purchases of etfs and j - reits helped markets to support some confidence right after the earthquake and also during the period of high uncertainty since this summer. as i have stated, comprehensive monetary easing has been effective in that it has encouraged a decline in longer - term interest rates and helped market participants from becoming too pessimistic. i believe that this is one reason why japan ’ s financial conditions have been stable compared to those in the united states and europe. iv. financial institutions ’ efforts to strengthen the medium - to long - term growth potential of japan ’ s economy let me use the remaining time to talk about efforts made by financial institutions to strengthen the medium - to long - term growth potential of japan ’ s economy. i will share with you some examples of regional financial institutions supporting firms ’ movement toward renewed growth with the cooperation of research institutions. i brought up this topic because i think that firms ’ positive efforts in high - growth business areas are necessary in order to strengthen the medium - to long - term growth potential of japan ’ s economy. the decline in the medium - to long - term growth potential of japan ’ s economy is also part of the background to a protracted period of stagnant demand and ensuing prolonged deflation, notwithstanding an extremely accommodative financial bis central bankers ’ speeches environment. based on this recognition, since last summer, the bank has been supporting the private sector ’ s efforts to strengthen the medium - to long - term growth potential of japan ’ s economy through the provision of long - term funds at a low interest rate to financial institutions under the new framework of the growth foundation strengthening facility ( fundprovisioning measure to support strengthening the foundations for economic growth ). financial institutions are now requested not only to meet demand for funds from existing mature firms, but also to actively identify efforts made by newer, growth - oriented firms, making use of the bank ’