at low levels under yield curve control, and i consider that this has sustained accommodative funding conditions, such as for cp, corporate bonds, and bank lending, and in turn firmly supported japan's economic activity. ii. toward achieving the price stability target of 2 percent in a sustainable and stable manner i will now talk about the specific path toward achieving the price stability target of 2 percent in a sustainable and stable manner. discussions from a workshop on " issues surrounding price developments during the covid - 19 pandemic " that the bank held at the end of march will be informative in this regard. 1 the workshop involved leading japanese academic economists and generated lively discussions on why japan alone continues to have low inflation, based on the analyses by the bank's staff regarding the differences in price developments between japan, the united states, and europe that came to light during the pandemic. taking these discussions into account, i believe that the issue of whether wages will clearly increase and service prices will overcome long - standing zero inflation holds the key to achieving the price stability target of 2 percent in japan in a sustainable and stable manner. let me explain this in more detail. a. inflation dynamics during the pandemic : japan, the united states, and europe i will first outline inflation dynamics in japan, the united states, and europe during the pandemic ( chart 3 ). the rise in inflation has been particularly notable in the united states, where the rate of change in the cpi has recently been over 8 percent and that in the cpi excluding energy has been over 6 percent. in terms of monetary policy responses, the federal reserve had taken the stance until last summer that, since inflation was expected to be transitory, it would allow inflation to overshoot and focus on supporting the economy by maintaining an accommodative stance of monetary policy, unless the second - round effects for details, see amamiya, m., " the covid - 19 crisis and inflation dynamics, " opening remarks at the workshop on " issues surrounding price developments during the covid - 19 pandemic, " march 29, 2022, https : / / www. boj. or. jp / en / announcements / press / koen _ 2022 / ko220329b. htm / ; and monetary affairs department, bank of japan, " characteristics of price developments in japan : summary of the first workshop on'issues surrounding price developments during the covid - 19

haruhiko kuroda : the bank of japan ’ s semiannual report on currency and monetary control statement by mr haruhiko kuroda, governor of the bank of japan, before the committee on financial affairs, house of representatives, tokyo, 19 june 2013. * * * introduction the bank of japan submits to the diet its semiannual report on currency and monetary control in june and december. most recently, the bank submitted the report for the second half of fiscal 2012 on june 14, 2013. i am pleased to have this opportunity to talk about recent developments in japan ’ s economy and present an overall review of the bank's conduct of monetary policy. i. economic and financial developments in japan first, i will explain economic and financial developments in japan. japan ’ s economy has been picking up as exports and industrial production have continued to improve against the background that domestic demand remains resilient. as for overseas economies, while the manufacturing sector shows a lackluster performance, they are gradually heading toward a pick - up as a whole. in this situation, exports have started picking up. business fixed investment has been resilient in nonmanufacturing and appears to have stopped weakening on the whole. public investment has continued to increase, and housing investment has generally been picking up. private consumption has been resilient, assisted by the improvement in consumer sentiment. reflecting these developments in demand both at home and abroad, industrial production has been picking up. with regard to the outlook, japan ’ s economy is expected to return to a moderate recovery path, mainly against the background that domestic demand increases its resilience due to the effects of monetary easing as well as various economic measures, and that growth rates of overseas economies gradually pick up, albeit moderately. meanwhile, financial conditions are accommodative. the monetary base has increased significantly as asset purchases by the bank of japan have progressed, and firms ’ funding costs have been hovering at low levels. the year - on - year rate of increase in the amount outstanding of bank lending has been at around 2 percent, mainly due to increased demand for working capital and funds related to mergers and acquisitions. issuing conditions for cp and corporate bonds have remained favorable on the whole. financial markets have shown somewhat volatile movements since late may, largely reflecting developments in overseas markets. given that japan ’ s economy is on a steady path toward recovery, however, they are expected to gradually regain stability, reflecting positive momentum in economic activity.