In these circumstances, the long-term government bond yield has moved at about 2.3 - 2.4 per cent since the end of November 1996, but has recently declined to reach a record low of around 2.2 per cent. With respect to bank lending rates, the short-term prime lending rate has remained at a record low level of 1.625 per cent since September 1995.
The long-term prime lending rate was lowered three times by a total of 0.8 percentage points since September 1996 in response to developments in the long-term interest rates, and has been moving at the record low of 2.5 per cent since December 1996.