In addition, it was decided that the schedule for increasing the outstanding amount of the Program to about 65 trillion yen by around the end of 2012 would be maintained. It was further decided to increase the outstanding amount of the Program to about 70 trillion yen by around the end of June 2013.
Now, given that the outlook for the performance of economic activity and prices has not been adjusted downward compared with the January 2012 interim assessment, some may argue that the timing of the Bank’s action at this time was questionable. On this point, I would like to stress that there remains a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the assessment, as already explained.