In my speech today, I would like to first discuss developments in global financial markets and overseas economies, given that current developments in Japan's economy are being overwhelmingly influenced by them.
The rationale for creating Regional Rural Banks was also to take the banking services to poor people. The branches of commercial banks and the RRBs have increased from 8321 in the year 1969 to 68,282 branches as at the end of March 2005. The average population per branch office has decreased from 64,000 to 16,000 during the same period.