Masaru Hayami: Recent economic developments and monetary policy Speech by Mr. Masaru Hayami, Governor of the Bank of Japan, at the Research Institute of Japan, Tokyo, 7 March 2001. * * *  1. Introduction Two months have passed since the dawn of the new century.
After Japan’s economy went through a very tough decade at the end of the twentieth century, it has yet to regain economic strength and restore a full-fledged growth. In 2000 Japan’s economy was on a moderate recovery path as improvements became increasingly evident mainly in the corporate sector. However, unsavory developments followed.