* * * Today I will talk about the Bank of Japan's assessment of the economy and the thinking behind its conduct of monetary policy with reference to the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (hereafter termed the Outlook Report) published in October 2004. I. Recent economic developments  The Japanese economy is currently in the process of recovery.
Since the early 1990s, it has on a number of occasions appeared to be entering a recovery phase. Each time, however, the recovery soon ran out of steam and the economy slipped back into recession. These recessions were without exception marked by deep troughs.