Meanwhile, 10-year yields in Japan temporarily dropped to minus 0.195 percent amid the global decline in interest rates, and currently are at around minus 0.15 percent. In addition, the Bank has purchased assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with a view to lowering risk premia of asset prices. Under such powerful monetary easing measures, Japan's financial conditions have remained highly accommodative.
Firms' funding costs have been hovering at extremely low levels (Chart 11). Lending rates have been at around historical low levels of around 0.5 percent, and issuance rates for corporate bonds have been at extremely low levels of close to 0 percent. In addition, financial institutions' lending attitudes have been active.