Note 1-54

(54) Banks may have purchased government bonds as a source of short-term profit. Meanwhile, the current deposit balance at the BOJ, which is included in the cash/deposit item, increased by about 20 trillion yen from the end of March 2000 to the end of March 2003. This means that deposits other than the current deposits at the BOJ decreased by about 7 trillion yen. Since the decrease is particularly notable for fixed time deposits, this could be related to the credit risks of financial institutions.