Besides required reserve balances, depository institutions also voluntarily hold two other types of balances in their Reserve Bank accounts - contractual clearing balances and excess reserve balances. H.R. 1224 would authorize the Federal Reserve to pay explicit interest on these balances as well. This authority would enhance the Federal Reserve’s toolkit for efficiently conducting monetary policy.
Let me share some of my considerations regarding the outlook with you. A. Output gap and potential economic growth rate  The Bank estimates that the output gap in Japan turned positive for the first time in almost six years since 2008, to 0.6 percent for the January–March quarter of 2014.