as a result of swift and aggressive responses taken by the government and central bank in each country and region, tension in financial markets has abated somewhat. however, the markets have remained nervous due to a decline in liquidity. in addition, although japan's financial system has maintained stability on the whole, financial conditions have become less accommodative in terms of corporate financing, as seen in deterioration in firms'financial positions. ii. conduct of monetary policy next, i will explain the bank's conduct of monetary policy. the bank considers that the important thing in terms of monetary policy under the recent economic and financial situation is to support financing mainly of firms and maintain stability in financial markets. with this in mind, in march and april, it enhanced monetary easing. moreover, at the unscheduled monetary policy meeting held on may 22, the bank decided to introduce a new fund - provisioning measure to further support financing mainly of small and medium - sized firms. the bank has introduced and enhanced the following three measures since march : purchases of cp and corporate bonds, ( 2 ) the special funds - supplying operations to facilitate financing in response to the novel coronavirus ( covid - 19 ), and ( 3 ) the new fund - provisioning measure. through these three measures, which are referred to as the special program to support financing in response to the novel coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) with the total size of about 75 trillion yen, it will actively support financing mainly of firms while cooperating with the government. in addition, with a view to maintaining stability in financial markets, the bank has been providing ample yen and foreign currency funds without setting upper limits mainly through purchases of japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) and the conduct of the u. s. dollar funds - supplying operations, and has been actively purchasing assets such as exchange - traded funds ( etfs ). by conducting these measures, it will continue to contribute to supporting financing mainly of firms and maintaining stability in financial markets. the bank recognizes that powerful monetary easing measures will contribute to supporting economic and financial activities, coupled with various measures by the japanese government as well as those by the government and central bank of each country in response to the spread of covid - 19. on this basis, the bank will closely monitor the impact of covid - 19 for the time being and will not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary. thank you.

earthquake struck. the bank of japan ’ s fukushima branch, which is about 40 miles away from the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant, has been conducting its business as usual, and has been providing cash, including on the weekend immediately after the earthquake. financial market stability has been maintained. i would also note that trading on the tokyo stock exchange has been perfectly normal. looking beyond the world of settlement systems and financial markets, the people in the disaster areas have been calm and composed and full of a spirit of mutual cooperation, despite such a difficult living environment. in tokyo, although electricity shortages are causing some inconvenience, people have accepted these new realities and adapted immediately. one of the visible changes is that people are increasingly deciding themselves to cancel parties or other events, as a mark of respect to the victims of the disaster and out of consideration for the feelings of the people affected. another change is a substantial decline in visitors from overseas. bis central bankers ’ speeches iii. effects on japan ’ s economy next, let me turn to the effects on japan ’ s economy of the disastrous events – namely, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident. something that has not been recognized so much is that japan ’ s economy in 2010 performed best among the g - 7 economies in terms of both growth rate and unemployment rate ( chart 2 ). the disaster occurred at a time when japan ’ s economy was gradually returning to a recovery path, albeit a moderate one. in the short run, it is inevitable that the earthquake will significantly affect production and other economic activity through its damage to supply capacity. the four prefectures most affected by the earthquake and tsunami in total account for about 6 percent of japan ’ s gdp ( chart 3 ). in the case of the kobe earthquake, which occurred in january 1995, real gdp did not decline, even in the quarter when the earthquake occurred. in contrast, the march 11 earthquake will have a greater impact on production for the following reasons. first, this was not just an earthquake that was huge in magnitude and geographically widespread. it also triggered tsunami, which, together with the earthquake, caused a nuclear accident. second, hard - to - replace parts and material produced in factories in the disaster areas are integral to supply chains. a typical example is electronic parts, the shortage of which has been having a severe impact on automobile production even in non - affected areas. the effects might go beyond the domestic sphere. the economies of japan, china and the united states have become