the deterioration in the functioning of the u. s. and european markets for securitized products has remained significant and strains in money markets have persisted. moreover, financial institutions have increasingly been tightening their lending standards. against this background, the global economy – including the u. s. economy, which has been decelerating even more clearly – has continued to be exposed to downside risk. at the same time, the risk of inflation has been increasing globally, as prices of crude oil and other international commodities have been rising substantially. the bank considers it necessary to continue to carefully monitor developments in overseas economies and global financial markets as well as the effects of the rise in materials prices. regarding prices, the three - month rate of change in the domestic corporate goods price index has been positive, mainly due to the rise in international commodity prices. the yearon - year rate of increase in the cpi ( excluding fresh food ) has been rising since around the end of last year, and it has been around 1 percent lately. as for the outlook, it is projected to continue to be positive due to the rise in prices of petroleum products and food products in a situation where overall supply and demand in the economy are more or less balanced. given that the current increase in the cpi is the highest in 15 years – if we disregard fiscal 1997, when retail prices rose due to the rise in the consumption tax – and that the prices of daily necessities are rising markedly, close attention should be paid to the effects of price developments on consumers'inflation expectations and the price - setting behavior of firms. ii. conduct of monetary policy and disposal of stocks purchased from financial institutions as i have explained, the outlook for economic activity and prices is highly uncertain at present. in this situation, the bank considers that it is not appropriate to predetermine the direction of future monetary policy. based on a thorough examination of the economic and price situation as well as the market situation both at home and abroad, the bank will carefully assess the future outlook for economic activity and prices, closely considering the likelihood of its projections as well as relevant risk factors, and will implement its policies in a flexible manner. the bank has been appropriately providing liquidity through money market operations. as a result, despite the continued disruptions in global financial markets, japan's money market has been stable, unlike its u. s. and european counterparts. the bank will continue to carefully monitor market developments and to ensure, via appropriate money market operations, the

to address these side effects of economic development. knowledge is once again the key asset in which we need to invest to make further economic progress, while protecting the environment. * * * 40. recovering the path of gdp growth that italy interrupted 30 years ago is a question with implications that go beyond the mere economic sphere. they affect the health of its citizens, the quality of their leisure time, their overall standard of living. the urgency of the problems posed by the pandemic should not make us lose sight of this longer - term issue. in order to overcome this challenge, our economy needs an intense technological and cultural transformation. slides italy ’ s gdp is back to the level recorded in 1993 gdp in some advanced countries ( quarterly data ; indices : 1993 = 100 ) source : eurostat, u. s. bureau of economic analysis spending on r & d is low … spending on research and development as a share of gdp in 2018 source : oecd and so is investment in knowledge … business investment in knowledge - based capital as a share of gdp in 2015 source : oecd … but the quality of research is relatively high field - weighted citation impact of scientific publications in 2015 - 16 source : anvur, scopus italy has a very high share of neets … share of the population not in employment, education or training, for different age clusters in 2018 source : oecd and school results are below the oecd average … results of the oecd pisa tests source : oecd … a problem mostly concerning our mezzogiorno results of the oecd pisa tests in 2018 : the north - south divide source : oecd competences are low also for adults results of the oecd piaac tests in 2013 - 16 ( score ) ( 1 ) minimum score 0, maximum score 500 source : oecd sweden norway denmark estonia belgium australia new zealand italy finland korea united kingdom latvia canada austria luxembourg netherlands eu 23 oecd members switzerland poland oecd - average israel spain france slovak republic turkey germany portugal czech republic united states ireland lithuania hungary mexico colombia chile luxembourg ireland italy czech republic slovak republic slovenia latvia hungary lithuania portugal poland germany spain iceland mexico japan israel france belgium estonia sweden finland netherlands korea new zealand united kingdom austria turkey australia norway colombia canada united states chile spending in tertiary education is insufficient total expenditures in tertiary education as a percentage of gdp in 2016 2, 5 2, 0 1, 5 1, 0 0, 5 0, 0 source : oec