BOJ Minutes - Appropriate to keep powerful easing, inflation expectations stop declining

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

Minutes of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) monetary policy meeting held on Dec 20 and 21 show-

Most members believe it was appropriate for the Bank to persistently pursue powerful monetary easing under the current guideline for market operations.
Many members said there was still a long way to go to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent, it was necessary to maintain the current highly accommodative financial conditions.
Indicators of medium- to 15 long-term inflation expectations had stopped declining, with some indicators showing an uptrend, and such inflation expectations were likely to rise steadily as further price rises came to be observed widely.
One member said that, considering the risk of weaker growth in Japan's economic activity and prices due to a possible economic downturn in the United States and the consumption tax hike in Japan that was scheduled for 2019, the Bank should aim to achieve a situation in which the inflation rate would reach 2 percent in fiscal 2018 and overshoot 2 percent in fiscal 2019.

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

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