In the last decade, the population of aged 65 or over increased 33 percent in Japan and 16 percent in the U.S. During the same period, spending on medical and nursing services increased 11 percent in Japan and 74 percent in the U.S. Those figures suggest the large potential demand not only in the market of medical and nursing services but also in medical equipment and other related investments in Japan.
We expect these purchases to put further downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, including mortgage rates. To underline the Federal Reserve’s commitment to fostering a sustainable economic recovery, we said that we would continue securities purchases and employ other policy tools until the outlook for the job market improves substantially in a context of price stability.