consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2009, compared to our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2008, was impacted by the following: 

an increase in net assets of $1,873 million resulting from translation adjustments in various balance sheet accounts; 

an increase in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $4,450 million. We monitor our liquidity on a net debt basis as part of our overall cash management strategy. In 2009, we issued commercial paper with maturities of greater than 90 days primarily due to a favorable interest rate environment on longer-term commercial paper. In order to match the maturities of these issuances, we also began investing in longer-term time deposits. In addition, we currently expect to repurchase an additional $1.5 billion of our stock during 2010. However, we anticipate that these repurchases will be subsequent to the close of our acquisition of CCE's North American operations. Refer to Note 19 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements; and 

an increase in long-term debt of $2,278 million due to the issuance of long-term debt in the first quarter of 2009. 

Impact of Inflation and Changing Prices 

Inflation affects the way we operate in many markets around the world. In general, we believe that, over time, we are able to increase prices to counteract the majority of the inflationary effects of increasing costs and to generate sufficient cash flows to maintain our productive capability.