Such views were that “demand for smart phones and tablet devices has been strong and there are prospects for inventory adjustments particularly of electronic parts to be completed,” or that “orders from emerging economies especially for machine tools have been increasing in number.”  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  As for the outlook, it is projected that Japan’s economy will get out of the pause in the not so distant future and return to the moderate recovery path, on the back of high growth in overseas economies.
Prices Let me turn to the price developments. The year-on-year rate of change in Japan’s consumer price index (CPI) excluding fresh food registered a substantial decline of 2.4 percent in the summer of 2009, but the rate of decline has steadily continued to slow since then as the economic slack gradually improved in line with the economic recovery.