- Haruhiko Kuroda, BOj Governor
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated the central bank's readiness to take additional monetary easing steps if needed to reach its 2% inflation goal. BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's comments come more than two months after the central bank adopted a negative interest rate strategy aimed at stemming deflationary expectations and spurring a revival in demand. Kuroda said that the BoJ would take additional easing steps in the form of quantity, quality of asset buying, or interest rates if needed.
The BoJ has been conducting Qualitative and Quantitative Easing programme for three years now, but so far the scheme showed little success in boosting inflation to the 2% target level. Kuroda expected Japan's consumer inflation to hover around its current level of zero for some time before accelerating to 2%. Japan's national core CPI was flat in February, while Tokyo's CPI dropped 0.3% on an annualized basis in March, the steepest decline since QQE began. Recent economic data suggest the world's third-biggest economy is making little progress in creating the 'virtuous cycle' the BoJ hopes for, with the economy shrinking 0.3% in the December quarter, largely due to a decline in consumer demand.
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