However, amid the after-effects of the bursting of the global credit bubble, uncertainties surrounding the future remain high and many issues must be resolved in order that the global economy can return to a new, sustainable growth path, and shift to the so-called “new normal”.
Today, I will first review economic and financial developments in 2009, then describe the Bank’s thinking on the conduct of monetary policy and conclude with an outline of the challenges Japan’s economy needs to tackle from next year onward. I. Developments in the global economy  I would like to start by discussing global economic developments.