I will first explain recent economic and financial developments. Japan's economy has picked up as a trend, although some weakness has been seen in part, mainly due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and a rise in commodity prices. Overseas economies have recovered on the whole, albeit with variation across countries and regions. In this situation, exports and industrial production have continued to increase as a trend, despite the remaining effects of supply-side constraints. Corporate profits have improved on the whole, but business sentiment has seen a pause in its improvement recently, mainly due to ... (full story)