supporting sustainable economic growth through financial stability policy speech delivered to citi australia and new zealand investment conference on 16 october 2019, in sydney by geoff bascand, deputy governor and general manager of financial stability good morning everyone, my thanks to citi for the invitation for me to come here today and speak with you all - it ’ s a pleasure to be here. today i ’ m going to start by setting the scene to give you an understanding of where the reserve bank of new zealand is currently at in achieving both price and financial stability, and i ’ m also going to outline the risks that new zealand is exposed to in a local and global environment. setting the scene the reserve bank of new zealand ’ s purpose is to promote the prosperity and wellbeing of new zealanders, and contribute to a sustainable and productive economy. for this speech i want to mostly focus on how we promote sustainability by delivering on our objectives : price stability, maximum sustainable employment, and financial stability, and the tools we apply to help keep the economy productive. over the past thirty years, we have seen economic volatility decline following the introduction of inflation targeting, with prices becoming more stable and remaining at relatively lower levels ( figure 1 ). figure 1 : the decline in inflation volatility during the inflation targeting era in new zealand source : stats nz, rbnz calculations. over this same period we have also seen improvements in economic growth, as well as less volatility in this growth ( figure 2 ). figure 2 : quarterly real gdp growth before and during the inflation targeting era source : stats nz, rbnz calculations. with monetary policy maintaining price stability and supporting maximum sustainable employment, other policies we have are aimed at maintaining financial stability. what we mean by ‘ financial stability ’ is having a financial system that can withstand severe, yet plausible, shocks and avoid financial crises. these crises can destabilise economic activity and severely impact business and household income. indeed, evidence from a wide range of countries over many decades shows us that when crises do happen, they are immensely damaging and can have long - lasting effects. 1 usually our price stability and financial stability policies are complementary. however, the low interest rate world we live in complicates achieving both of our objectives, encouraging a build - up of leverage in the financial system. the persistent decline in long - term and shortterm interest rates has supported very high levels of private sector leverage. see the discussion of economic and social costs in bascan

january 17, 2019 bank of japan opening remarks at the g20 symposium in tokyo masayoshi amamiya deputy governor of the bank of japan good morning, g20 finance and central bank deputies, professors, and distinguished guests. welcome to tokyo. this year, japan assumes the g20 presidency for the first time. today's symposium is one of the kick - off events under japan's presidency. on behalf of the co - organizers, the bank of japan and the japanese ministry of finance, i would like to express our sincere gratitude for your participation in this symposium. as one of the medium - to long - term policy issues that will be discussed under japan's g20 presidency, we chose " aging and its policy implications. " the g20 had some opportunities in the past to discuss aging in the context of other policy issues such as growth strategies and global imbalances. this year, we have decided to focus on aging itself and discuss it in a comprehensive manner for two reasons. first, aging is a common policy challenge for all g20 members. currently, japan is the most aged country among the g20 membership. however, it is almost certain that in many other g20 countries, including emerging economies, the ratio of elderly people will increase in the future. aging and shrinking populations can have a huge impact on a country's economic activity and the distribution of its output. they also have a substantial impact on the flow of capital and labor between countries at different stages of aging. moreover, labor market conditions, social security systems, and economic policies are different across countries, and these affect each country's economic activity and social welfare in different ways. therefore, it is essential that we share our experiences and deepen our understanding of where the problem lies and how policies can address it. above all, since future demographic changes can be predicted with some degree of certainty, we can prepare policy responses to their medium - to long - term trends in advance through constructive discussion. the second reason for our focus on aging is that its impact on the economy will differ depending on policy responses. aging is an important risk factor for the economy in that it can negatively affect future economic activity. however, given the appropriate policy responses, it can also have a positive impact on the economy. in the first place, longevity is surely to everyone's benefit. the fact that we can live longer in good health has been achieved through human endeavor in fields such as medical technology and in the spread of education