It is my great pleasure to have the opportunity to speak today at the Kisaragi-kai meeting. Since early spring this year, the environment surrounding economic activity and prices both in Japan and abroad has been significantly affected by increased tension over the situation in the Middle East. As the surge in crude oil prices draws global attention to heightened inflationary pressure, central banks around the world face challenges in navigating their particular context for economic activity and prices. The Bank of Japan is no exception. In conducting monetary policy appropriately, it has become more important to ... (full story)