> temporary factors services < 63 % > services < 42 % > energy < 7 % > goods < 30 % > goods < 47 % > cpi < 100 % > hicp < 100 % > - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 cy 18 - 2 cy 18 - 2 cy 18 services < 50 % > goods < 40 % > cpi ( less fresh food ) < 100 % > note : figures for temporary factors for japan are staff estimates and consist of mobile phone charges and the effects of the consumption tax hike, policies concerning the provision of free education, and the " go to travel " campaign, which covers a portion of domestic travel expenses. figures in angular brackets show the share of each component. figures for the united states and the euro area for 2022 / q4 are those for october. sources : haver ; ministry of internal affairs and communications.

and prices have increased simultaneously. against this background, it has decided to rapidly tighten monetary policy to suppress demand and thereby lower the inflation rate. turning to economies in the euro area, although demand there has not been as strong as in the united states, people's inflation expectations have risen amid ongoing elevated inflation of around 10 percent, mainly led by energy prices. this has raised concerns about the risk of a so - called wage - price spiral, where higher inflation expectations make employees demand higher wage increases, leading to higher labor costs for firms and upward pressure on prices. the ecb has prioritized containing inflation and has decided to tighten monetary policy while accepting the risk of its adverse impact on the economies to some extent. japan's situation differs from both of these. japan's economy is still on its way to recovery from the pandemic and the output gap has remained in negative territory. the bank projects that the output gap will turn positive at some point in the second half of this fiscal year with a recovery in the economy. the inflation rate, however, has not risen from the demand side at present. although it is currently above 2 percent due to the pass - through to consumer prices of cost increases led by the rise in import prices, the rate is projected to decline to below 2 percent from fiscal 2023 with the effects of this pass - through waning, as i mentioned earlier. also, as i explained today, there have been extremely high uncertainties for economic and price developments at home and abroad and for financial market developments. the bank will closely examine the outlook for economic activity and prices, as well as the upside and downside risks to the outlook. based on the assessments, it will conduct appropriate monetary policy. at present, the bank deems that it should continue with monetary easing and thereby firmly support economic activity. by doing so, it aims to provide a favorable environment for firms to raise wages and to achieve the price stability target in a sustainable and stable manner, accompanied by wage increases. concluding remarks in closing, i would like to make two points about the tokai region's economy from a medium - to long - term perspective. the first point concerns efforts toward achieving carbon neutrality, which i touched on at last year's meeting. i have heard about progress in various initiatives over the past year in this region. in its industrial sector, firms have been working to visualize carbon emissions in the supply chain by using internet of things ( iot ) technology.