Yes, we did consider a 3% target in a range from 2% to 4%. As you will see in the documents we provided, we assessed the benefits in the context of a lower interest rate. We examined this for various targets up to 4%.
What we observe in this process is that the benefits of changing the target are limited and that the costs, which are in a way fixed, are the same. One of the reasons that monetary policy works so well is that inflation expectations are very stable. The potential benefits would be derived if people revise the credit system and their expectations in an orderly way.
As to core inflation measures, we have for a long time used the index measuring basic inflation or the inflation trend, CPIX, which strips out eight of the most volatile CPI components. As you can imagine, we try to target inflation, but—if you look at a graph—, it goes up and goes down; it fluctuates a lot. That is usually due to consumer energy prices. If we truly want a monetary policy that achieves stable inflation, the volatile components must be removed.
We did a study including the various core inflation measures used around the world. We found that, among certain criteria, there were three that worked. We also noted that the CPIX no longer works and was not helping us much. No measure was perfect, though. So we decided that it wasn't the target that was important, but rather that these measures would serve as an operational guide for us. We found that it was better to keep the criteria that worked very well and to use them as a base case.