monetary easing since march 2020 through three measures ( chart 2 ). these measures have been effective in supporting the economy, mainly through maintaining an accommodative funding environment. the bank decided at the december 2020 mpm to extend the duration of the special program to support financing in response to the novel coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) until the end of this september in order to continue to support corporate financing. depending on the impact of covid - 19, it also will consider a further extension, as necessary. the bank will continue to firmly conduct the current monetary easing measures, including the special program. in addition, it will closely monitor the impact of covid - 19 and will not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary. ii. continuation of quantitative and qualitative monetary easing ( qqe ) with yield curve control now, i will talk about the assessment for further effective and sustainable monetary easing. under qqe with yield curve control, the bank has continued to conduct powerful monetary easing in order to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent. this assessment started off by examining developments in economic activity and prices under the framework of qqe with yield curve control as well as its policy effects. qqe with yield curve control is a monetary policy framework that was introduced in september 2016 ( chart 3 ). this framework consists of two major components : yield curve control and an inflation - overshooting commitment. yield curve control is a framework for market operations that targets all interest rates at the short and long ends ; in other words, the yield curve. the bank aims to control short - and long - term interest rates to the appropriate levels while taking into consideration both the positive and side effects of monetary easing. the inflation - overshooting commitment is to continue expanding the monetary base until the year - on - year rate of increase in the observed cpi exceeds 2 percent and stays above the target in a stable manner. the key to this commitment is that the bank promises to continue with monetary easing based on observed cpi inflation rather than the outlook for cpi inflation. the bank aims to strengthen the formation of inflation expectations with this extremely strong commitment. in addition, through this commitment, it is implementing the idea of a " makeup strategy, " in which monetary easing is conducted so that the inflation rate stays above the target for a sustained period of time to compensate for the observed inflation rate that continued to fall below the target. this strategy was examined in this assessment using an economic model, and

impact on the functioning of financial intermediation 2. clarification of the range of fluctuations in long - term interest rates ( ±0. 25 % ) < interest scheme to promote lending > apply incentives ( linked to the short - term policy interest rate ) to financial institutions'( fis') current account balances, corresponding to the amount outstanding of funds provided through fund - provisioning measures to promote lending ― mitigate the impact on fis'profits at the time of rate cuts depending on the amount of lending ― the applied interest rates and the eligible fund - provisioning measures for each category will be changed as necessary at mpms depending on the situation. strike a balance between securing effects of monetary easing and maintaining market functioning introduction of " fixed - rate purchase operations for consecutive days " 3. new guideline for etf and j - reit purchases purchase etfs and j - reits as necessary with upper limits of about 12 tril. yen and about 180 bil. yen, respectively, on annual paces of increase in their amounts outstanding ( abolish the guideline for purchasing these assets, in principle, at annual paces of increase in their amount outstanding of about 6 tril. yen and about 90 bil. yen, respectively ) purchase only etfs tracking the topix < decision at the march 2021 mpm > category i category ii category iii applied interest rate eligible fund - provisioning measure 0. 2 % • special operations in response to covid - 19, when funds are provided against loans made by fis on their own higher than the rate for category ii 0. 1 % absolute value of the short - term policy interest rate 0 % lower than the rate for category ii • special operations in response to covid - 19, when funds are provided against loans other than those for category i and against private debt pledged as collateral • loan support program • operation to support fis in disaster areas