" march 2022. with the growth of startups and small and medium - sized firms that are targeted for such investment. nevertheless, the reality in japan is that startups with innovative technologies and business models often lack business resources - - namely, people, goods, money, and networks - - which prevents them from growing significantly. there are 644 unicorns ( private startups valued at over 1 billion u. s. dollars ) in the united states, 172 in china, 46 in the united kingdom, and 29 in germany, while there are only 6 in japan, which is inordinately few relative to gdp. 5 i expect to see a change to an economic environment that drives the growth of startups. this includes the implementation of government policies for cultivating startups and supporting the growth of venture capital. other examples are the increase in business exits through initial public offerings ( ipos ) and the merger and acquisition ( m & a ) activities of large firms, and the resultant growth in the number of business startups and higher labor mobility. my hope is that these initiatives will further increase corporate dynamism. the business succession of small and medium - sized firms also presents a prime opportunity to boost the potential for innovation. some cases of business succession resemble the takeover of a family business as a venture startup, in which successors combine their own strengths with the advantages of the existing business to pursue new business or shift business formats. business succession is expected to promote innovation through new business initiatives that capitalize on the trust, experience, and technology of the family business. meanwhile, observing the increase in business cessation due to the lack of a successor, local governments and regional financial institutions have come to recognize that the rebirth of firms with roots in the region ties in directly with regional revitalization. i believe that key growth strategies for japan's economy are stronger cultivation and support of small and medium - sized firms through collaboration among industry, academia, government agencies, and financial institutions, as well as efforts to reinforce follow - up support by the regional financial institutions acquainted with the circumstances of their corporate clients. c. employment dynamism to place the right people in the right jobs across japan the covid - 19 pandemic made evident the labor shortages and delays in digitalization that japan faces, prompting firms'recognition that if they are unable to secure needed human calculated based on cb insights, " global unicorn club : private companies valued at $ 1b + ( as of october 7th, 202

on a year - on - year basis was stable at or above zero percent ; ( 3 ) the bank raised the target for the balance outstanding at the bank ’ s current accounts to around 5 trillion yen ; and ( 4 ) the bank would increase the amount of its outright purchase of long - term government bonds from the then 400 billion yen per month, if it considered this to be necessary for the smooth provision of liquidity. see hiroshi ugai, “ effects of the quantitative easing policy : a survey of empirical analyses, ” monetary and economic studies, 25 ( 1 ), institute for monetary and economic studies, bank of japan, 2007. bis central bankers ’ speeches portfolios and both short - and long - term interest rates were declining anyway ( the yield on 2 - year instruments in the past month has been in the range of only 0. 130 – 0. 200 percent ). in fact, i think that even before the implementation of comprehensive monetary easing, a lowering of longer - term interest rates had already been achieved to a substantial extent through the bank ’ s lowering of the policy interest rate to 0. 1 percent, through policy duration effects from previous policies, and through the provision of ample funds. therefore, i felt that increasing the purchase of government securities to achieve a further decline in longer - term interest rates would only have limited positive effects18 and would increase the risk of overheating in the bond market ; moreover, excessively low interest rates could deprive financial institutions of profit opportunities and instead hamper the effects of monetary easing, so that any positive effects might be outweighed by the potential negative side effects. another reason why i disagreed with the purchase of long - term government bonds through the program is that – in a situation where there is uncertainty over government finances in the medium to long term – making an exception to the principle that the outstanding amount of the bank ’ s holdings of jgbs should be kept below the outstanding amount of banknotes in circulation could arouse suspicions in the market that the bank had taken a step toward engaging in government debt financing, which in turn could adversely affect long - term interest rates. 4. ensuring the bank ’ s financial health next, i would also like to mention the disadvantages of risk asset purchases by the bank. excessive intervention by the bank may distort price formation in the market and deprive financial institutions of profit opportunities. moreover, the bank, too, may ultimately incur losses from the purchases. as you