Current state of and outlook for overseas economies Overseas economies as a whole are gradually heading toward a pick-up, although a somewhat weak performance is partly seen. The economies are expected to gradually pick up mainly as the U.S. economy moderately accelerates its pace of recovery and the European economy slowly bottoms out.
Prices relative to production costs give the right signals that should guide users to adopt the most cost-efficient payment method in any given situation. Competition is what makes the pricing effective and cost-based. This ensures that the benefits from technical innovations are distributed throughout the society. Competition requires a number of independent providers.