under these circumstances, the overnight call rate continues to move at around zero percent. longer - term interest rates remain steady at low levels. yields on long - term government bonds have declined to the 0. 4 - 0. 5 percent level, as banks and institutional investors continue to increase investment in government bonds. yield spreads between private bonds ( bank bonds and corporate bonds ) and government bonds are at historical lows. stock prices have risen following the recovery in u. s. and european stock prices. the nikkei 225 stock average is recently moving at the 8, 500 - 9, 000 yen level. in the foreign exchange market, the yen depreciated as market participants became sensitive to a possible market intervention and as some u. s. economic indicators improved. the yen is currently traded in the range of 117 - 119 yen to the u. s. dollar. with regard to corporate finance, private banks remain cautious in extending loans to firms with high credit risks while they continue to be more active in extending loans to blue - chip companies. recently, their lending attitudes seem to be becoming slightly more accommodative in areas such as interest margin charges. meanwhile, the lending attitudes of financial institutions as perceived by firms, particularly small ones, remain severe. in the corporate bond and cp markets, the issuing environment for firms with high credit ratings continues to be accommodative, and the environment for firms with relatively low credit ratings is improving. credit demand in the private sector continues to follow a downtrend mainly because business fixed investment is at low levels and firms are continuously reducing their debts. amid these developments, private banks ’ lending continues to decline by about 2. 0 - 2. 5 percent on a year - on - year basis. the amount outstanding of corporate bonds and cp issued is moving at around the previous year ’ s level. meanwhile, according to business surveys, although there seem to be slight improvements, financial positions of firms, particularly those of small firms, remain severe. the year - on - year growth rate of the monetary base rose somewhat and is around 15 percent. the year - on - year growth rate of the money stock is around 1. 5 percent. funding costs for firms continue to be at extremely low levels on the whole. against the above background, the financial developments are summarized as follows. money market conditions continue to be extremely easy due partly to the additional monetary easing by the bank. long - term interest rates are declining further and stock prices are recently

compared with the update released a year ago, before the worldwide spread of covid - 19. looking at developments by country and region, the chinese economy has achieved an expansion of domestic demand through increases in employment and income while successfully capturing external demand. china's real gdp growth rate has already surpassed its pre - pandemic level, and is expected to grow roughly in line with the january 2020 weo projection. this is likely to be attributed to china's early containment of covid - 19 and the government's effective economic measures. in contrast, advanced economies as well as emerging market and developing economies other than china have seen a delay in economic recovery, and the real gdp growth rates of these economies are expected to return to pre - pandemic levels only in the second half of 2021. moreover, there are various risk factors with respect to the outlook for the global economy, such as developments regarding covid - 19, geopolitical factors, and climate change issues. thus, accompanying downside risks continue to warrant particular attention. chart 2 world economic outlook ( imf ) 2019 / q4 = 100 china ( jan. 2021 weo update ) aes ( jan. 2021 weo update ) emdes ( jan. 2021 weo update ) china ( jan. 2020 weo update ) aes ( jan. 2020 weo update ) emdes ( jan. 2020 weo update ) 2019 / q4 20 / q1 2019 / q4 q3 21 / q1 q3 22 / q1 q3 note : weo = world economic outlook ; aes = advanced economies ; emdes = emerging market and developing economies excluding china. source : imf, " world economic outlook update ( january 2020, january 2021 ). " b. japan's economy next, i would like to turn to japan's overall economic trends, starting with real gdp growth rates. in chart 3, the line graph shows developments in the real gdp growth rate and the bar graph shows the contribution of demand components, such as consumption and investment, to the growth rate. the first preliminary estimate for the october - december quarter of 2020 marked a real gdp growth rate of 3. 0 percent on a quarter - on - quarter basis and 12. 7 percent on an annualized basis. the economy registered positive growth for the second consecutive quarter, with private consumption, exports, business fixed investment, and public demand all contributing to the positive growth. nevertheless, the annual real gdp growth rate for