onward, mainly considering the following factors : in a situation where the pace of expansion in consumption since fiscal 2014 has been quite slow, households'sentiment indicators have continued to decline since 2018, and the heightening of uncertainties in the global economy might limit business activity to a certain degree through expectations of a slowdown in external demand. of the credibility of achieving the price stability target. this is because such enhancement is unlikely in a situation where the monetary policy remains unchanged amid downward revisions to the policy board members'price projections. ii. conduct of monetary policy let me first outline the bank's current monetary policy, based on the outlook for economic activity and prices that i have described. i would then like to touch on my opinion about the bank's monetary policy conduct. the bank conducts monetary policy under the framework of quantitative and qualitative monetary easing ( qqe ) with yield curve control, aiming to achieve the 2 percent price stability target. this current framework consists of three major components ( chart 8 ). the first is yield curve control, in which the bank sets the short - term policy interest rate at minus 0. 1 percent and the operating target for long - term interest rates at around 0 percent. as for long - term interest rates, the bank purchases japanese government bonds ( jgbs ) while allowing some degree of fluctuation in long - term yields, depending mainly on developments in economic activity and prices. the second component is the purchase of risk assets, including exchange - traded funds ( etfs ). the bank purchases etfs so that their amount outstanding will increase at an annual pace of about 6 trillion yen. with a view to lowering risk premia of asset prices in an appropriate manner, the bank may increase or decrease the amount of purchases depending on market conditions. the third component is the bank's public commitment regarding the future conduct of monetary policy. in july 2018, the bank introduced forward guidance for short - and longterm interest rates, stating that " [ t ] he bank intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short - and long - term interest rates for an extended period of time, taking into account uncertainties regarding economic activity and prices including the effects of the consumption tax hike scheduled to take place in october 2019. " the bank aims to strengthen market confidence and expectations regarding the sustainability of monetary easing by making a commitment to the levels of future policy interest rates, in addition to the inflationovershooting commitment regarding the monetary base that has been in

of areas : biotechnology and other advanced technologies, new industrial clusters linked to recycling and other environment - related technologies, as well as regional city revival, sightseeing, medical care, and nursing services. to strengthen such trends, regional financial institutions are expected to play a new role in their regions. in this regard, the thinking behind their business decision - making in the past needs to be radically overhauled. for example, decisions about whether or not to assume particular risks should be based on a close examination of the nature of projects at hand rather than depending unduly on traditional collateral or guarantee - based methods. they should also raise their levels of expertise at providing advisory services relating to the smooth management of projects. this in turn will lead to the revitalization of regional financial institutions themselves. once the blanket protection of demand deposits is removed, financial institutions will no longer be able to count on support from the authorities. in principle, they will have to rely entirely on their own intellectual resources and creativity in dealing with the tasks facing them, including the nonperforming loan problem. it is conceivable, however, that there may be financial institutions, which are keen to rebuild their financial base, but which may not be able to strengthen their capital positions within the limited time frame without outside assistance. to deal with this possibility, injections of public funds which may be executed without reference to systemic risk should be considered apart from the measure stipulated in article 102 of the deposit insurance law. i am aware of a variety of learned opinions calling for caution in establishing another system of capital injections. bearing these opinions in mind, i hope that we will somehow manage to find a way to design an appropriate new framework - one that will function as the last public support to the efforts of the private sector. in closing, let me reiterate our determination to support the efforts of the private sector and to exert ourselves to the full to achieve sustainable growth.