I have argued that excessive credit expansion during upswings has often contributed to the accumulation of financial imbalances, imbalances whose unwinding has been associated with bouts of damaging instability.
With regard to prices, the year-on-year rate of increase in the consumer price index (CPI) for all items less fresh food, excluding the direct effects of the consumption tax hike, is around 0.5 percent. The rate of increase has recently been slowing, mainly due to a fall in the prices of petroleum products caused by the decline in crude oil prices.