the apriljune quarter of 2024 rose by 2. 9 percent on an annualized quarter - on - quarter basis, after having hovered for some time at a somewhat low level : the gdp for the july - september quarter of 2023 decreased by 4. 3 percent, that for the october - december quarter rose by 0. 2 percent, and that for the january - march quarter of 2024 decreased by 2. 4 percent ( chart 3 ). in particular, private consumption, which had continued to record negative growth from the april - june quarter of 2023, grew at a relatively high rate. although this can be mainly explained by the rebound from the previous quarter, it suggests that downward pressure on real consumption from the decline in real wages has finally started to wane. since the growth rate for real wages at present is heading toward an increasing trend, i personally think that private consumption is likely to be on a clearer expanding trend ( chart 4 ). b. price developments turning to japan's price developments, japan faced typical cost - push inflation in the postpandemic period, due to higher imported goods prices brought about by the impact of global inflation. this was especially evident in the fact that prices of energy and food accounted for a sizable contribution to rises in consumer prices. however, the rate of increase in imported goods prices has become moderate, in line with subsiding global inflation, and the pace of increase in the prices of energy and food has started to regain stability. as a result, the yearon - year rate of increase in the consumer price index ( cpi ) for all items excluding fresh food has been in the range of 2. 5 - 3. 0 percent and that for all items excluding fresh food and energy has been at around 2 percent ( chart 5 ). while the impact of higher imported goods prices has started to diminish, it is services prices that have been steadily rising as a trend. this uptrend is noteworthy, given that services prices tended to decline or barely rise from the 1990s in japan. simply put, the reason why services prices did not rise in japan until recently was that wages, which account for a large share of costs for services, did not rise. the recent rise in services prices is mainly attributable to a rise in the price of dining - out due to higher imported food prices. nevertheless, the large wage increases observed for the first time in more than three decades are also being gradually reflected in services prices. 1

from 1. 8 percent to 2. 5 percent. taking account of such uncertainties, the bank decided to conduct yield curve control with greater flexibility. at present, however, sustainable and stable achievement of the price stability target of 2 percent, accompanied by this development among small and medium - sized firms in germany ( those with sales of less than 50 million euros ) can be confirmed by the data from the extrapolated results of the financial statement statistics and from the consolidated financial statement statistics, both released by the deutsche bundesbank. wage increases, has not yet come in sight, and my view is that the bank needs more time before making a shift to monetary tightening. iii. reforms of economic and wage structures drawing from my experience in the private sector, i would now like to talk about the importance of changing japan's economic and wage structures and of strengthening the earning power of firms and households to this end. i believe that these are needed to achieve the 2 percent price stability target in a sustainable and stable manner. a. structural challenges facing japan's economy japan's economy, after having grown in line with an increasing population, experienced stagnation due to delayed responses to a subsequent population decline and changes in the economic environment. as a result, there has been almost no increase in the three key economic and financial indicators of prices, wages, and interest rates. when the population was increasing, japan's economy achieved high growth under an efficiency - oriented business model of mass production and vertical integration, through which a large volume of low - priced, quality products was provided. the yen then appreciated sharply following the 1985 plaza accord, spurring major firms to step up their overseas expansion. many small and medium - sized firms, however, could not expand their businesses overseas and instead faced fierce competition in a domestic market that was experiencing sluggish demand and price competition with firms from emerging economies. furthermore, firms fell behind in transforming their existing business model into one involving a horizontal division of labor, which focuses on creating added value and adapts to globalization and a population decline. with every wave of recession, many firms made all possible efforts to cut costs, because this measure had proved effective in the past. while the global economy grew steadily due to, for example, the rise of emerging economies and advances in digitalization, japan's economy saw sluggish wage growth amid the situation of a declining and aging population. this was because businesses were sustained with a rise in the labor force participation rate