IV  Concluding remarks  Lastly, I would like to touch on economic activity in Fukushima Prefecture. Economic activity in the prefecture has been picking up reflecting factors such as an improvement in overseas demand and growth in demand related to post-disaster restoration and reconstruction.
What happened with Japan's economy, which suffered from deflation, clearly illustrates that the social costs of addressing prolonged low growth ex post are high. Based on these experiences, governments and central banks around the world have made every effort to prevent as much as possible the COVID-19 shock from creating "scarring effects," which are long-lasting aftereffects on the economy.