the field of large - value payments. at the shortest end of the market, the integration of the interbank market took place in 1999, right from the start of monetary union, thanks to the setting up of the target system for the transfer of large - value payments in real time throughout the euro area and other eu countries. the system now processes over 4 million payments on average each month, representing roughly 1, 000 billion euros daily, of which 43 % are cross - border payments. these figures show a significant increase in the use of real - time gross settlements in the eu since the introduction of the euro ; • the smooth functioning of the entire integrated organisation of the eurosystem, in which the decision - making centre works in constant contact with the national central banks on the implementation of operations. the reasons for this achievement lie primarily with the in - depth preparatory work conducted over several years by the central banking community and private financial market operators. b / second, together with many other factors, this technical and operational success has contributed to the high credibility of the single monetary policy, which is guaranteed, inter alia, by the independence of the european central bank and of the national central banks. the eurosystem has inherited the store of confidence that was built up over several decades by the national central banks in charge of the most reputable currencies. in france for example, the last opinion survey indicated that 80 % of french citizens trust the banque de france. and the level of confidence in spain towards the banco de espana, or in the other countries participating in the euro area towards their respective ncb, is certainly as high. moreover, and contrary to what is often said, the monetary union of europe is not starting from scratch. it is worth emphasising that for no fewer than 12 years before the launch of the euro, six of the currencies which now make up the euro — and represent close to two thirds of the gdp of the euro area — had proven to be remarkably stable, not being subject to any realignment within the e. r. m. this high level of confidence is also supported by the homogeneous functioning of the eurosystem : the european monetary team, composed of the ecb and the national central banks of the - nowst twelve euro area countries as we have welcome, on the 1 of january 2001, a new member, the bank of greece. all the components of the eurosystem work constantly hand in hand. the eurosystem is a

industries are linked to a wide range of domestic industries, and therefore the fall in exports broadly affected domestic industries, including those that do not directly engage in export - related activities. since then, as the global economy has stopped worsening and is headed toward recovery, japan ’ s exports and production hit bottom at the beginning of 2009, since when it has been recovering, mainly in the area of items meeting demand from china. japan ’ s economy has ceased to deteriorate and started to pick up, despite the increasingly severe employment and income situation, on the realization of the positive effects of the government ’ s stimulus measures that favor energy - efficient products, such as tax reductions applied to purchases of environment - friendly cars and the eco - point system for electrical appliances. however, there has not yet been sufficient momentum for self - sustaining recovery in domestic private final demand. in terms of economic outlook, it is expected that the effects of inventory restocking and policy measures, which have been driving growth, gradually will abate. against this background and given the severe employment and income situation, there may be a leveling off in the area of private consumption, which has been picking up recently. meanwhile, business fixed investment is likely to pick up gradually as firms can no longer postpone investment plans, especially in light of pressing replacement demand. in sum, i expect that the trend toward gradual economic recovery will continue. the situation warrants careful attention, however, as many firms remain cautious about increasing domestic investment and employment due to uncertainty concerning the outlook. ii. price developments in japan a. the recent situation and the outlook next, i will talk about price developments against the background of the recent economic situation i have just described. international commodity prices, which have a major impact on japan ’ s domestic prices, surged at the start of the new century as commodity markets tightened due to strong demand from and robust growth in emerging economies, compounded by an inflow of speculative funds. commodity prices then plunged as a result of the rapid unwinding of speculative funds from commodity markets, prompted by the lehman shock and the subsequent financial market turmoil and global economic deterioration. these commodity prices, however, have since resumed an upward trend in response to the recent moderate recovery in the global economy. some items in the consumer price index ( cpi ) excluding fresh food ( the core cpi ), such as the prices of petroleum products and food, started to show a definite rise around the end of 2007, reflecting the surge in international commodity