Against such a backdrop, as I mentioned earlier, the possibility of Japan’s economy, which has been stagnant since last year, to return to the moderate recovery path toward the middle of the year has been increasing.
Also, in our outlook for economic activity and prices, the possibility for the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI excluding volatile food to reach 1 percent in 2014 has gradually come in sight. Under such changes, if the inflation rate actually rises, people’s inflation expectations are also likely to increase.