for factors that affect pressures on capacity and, hence, on inflation. paul and i have just returned from last weekend ’ s meeting of the g - 20 in berlin. the issues we discussed there line up very closely with those issues we identified and analyzed in our report commodity prices, realignment of currencies, global imbalances, and the growing presence of emerging - market economies such as china and india. while we remain broadly comfortable with the global growth scenario we outlined in our report, discussions this weekend and at other recent international meetings suggest a slight moderation in global growth prospects, despite the fact that both spot and futures prices for oil have declined somewhat during the past month. since the october report, one of the most significant developments has been a further depreciation of about 5 per cent in the value of the u. s. dollar against other major floating currencies, including the canadian dollar. if current exchange rates were to be sustained - and if all other economic and financial factors were to remain unchanged - this would have a dampening effect on aggregate demand for canadian goods and services. since monetary policy aims to keep aggregate demand and supply in balance in order to keep inflation close to our target, we need to assess the implications of movements in the currency for aggregate demand and the context in which they occur - that is, the changes in other economic and financial factors. in conclusion, i want to stress that the bank assesses the full set of information before each of its fixed announcement dates, and we will do so again before our 7 december announcement. mr. chairman, paul and i now will be happy to answer your questions.

, the bank will continue to operate the program beyond that date. iv. second program : loan support program making use of accommodative financial conditions while the creation of accommodative financial conditions represents the first stage of the transmission of monetary easing, the second stage consists of the extent to which a wide range of economic entities actually make use of such accommodative financial conditions. at present, the average interest rate paid by firms has fallen to nearly 1. 5 percent. this is extremely low compared with firms ’ return on assets ( roa ), which has been around 3 percent. firms are in a position to raise ample funds at interest rates substantially below their rates of return. thus, at first glance, it seems as though firms only need to borrow some funds and invest them in order to make a profit ; yet, this is not necessarily the case. rather, they are faced with a situation where they have little confidence that if they do borrow funds they will actually be able to sell their products or services and make sufficient profits. put differently, stagnant growth expectations have been preventing firms from being more aggressive in their business activities, and under these circumstances the accommodative financial conditions are not fully made use of. bis central bankers ’ speeches in order to overcome this sense of stagnation, we need to make efforts to strengthen the growth potential of japan ’ s economy. as such efforts proceed and growth expectations pick up, firms ’ profit prospects will improve, the expected rates of return on new investments will increase, and firms will become more proactive in their spending such as on investment. once such a virtuous circle has taken hold, the accommodative financial conditions will have even stronger effects, and the virtuous circle will become more sustainable. this is what we aim to achieve at the second stage of the transmission mechanism of monetary easing. in terms of creating a favorable business environment, the government also plays an important role. on october 30, 2012, the government and the bank of japan released a joint statement with the title “ measures aimed at overcoming deflation ” in order to state clearly the shared understanding of their respective roles to overcome deflation. this statement reconfirms the importance of the government ’ s role in creating a favorable business environment. the bank strongly expects the government to generate new demand by vigorously promoting measures – including decisive regulatory reform – for strengthening japan ’ s growth potential, based on the government ’ s