It is a great honor to have this opportunity to address such a distinguished gathering of business leaders in Japan today. It is almost two years since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Looking back at developments in Japan's economy since then, a wide range of economic activities was constrained at first, and the annualized quarter-on-quarter growth rate of real GDP was minus 28.5 percent for the April-June quarter of 2020, registering larger negative growth than immediately after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (Chart 1). Thereafter, however, economic activity has been picking up, led by the ... (full story)