BoJ Minutes: Central bank to adjust degree of easing if outlook realized

Lallalit Srijandorn FXStreet

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) board members shared their views on the monetary policy outlook on Wednesday, per the BoJ Minutes of the December meeting.

Key quotes

The BoJ maintained the uncollateralized overnight call rate around 0.25% as per its previous guideline.

Government bond purchases continued as planned, with monthly JGB purchases of ¥4.9 trillion.

The Japanese economy showed moderate recovery, supported by improving corporate profits and stable employment, though some weakness remains.

Inflation remains in the 2.0-2.5% range, supported by rising services prices and wage growth, though the impact of past import price increases has faded.

The BoJ reviewed its long-term monetary policy since the late 1990s, acknowledging both benefits and side effects of large-scale monetary easing.

Policymakers discussed the importance of sustainable inflation near 2%, emphasizing the need for cautious adjustments to monetary policy.

While some members pushed for an interest rate hike to 0.5%, the majority voted to keep rates unchanged at 0.25%, citing uncertainties in wage growth and global economic conditions.

The BoJ reaffirmed its cautious approach, stating that any future policy adjustments will depend on inflation trends, wage growth, and global economic risks.

The BoJ policy statement was unanimously approved, confirming continued monetary easing while monitoring inflation and financial stability.

Market reaction to the BoJ Minutes

At the time of writing, USD/JPY was up 0.04% on the day at 155.58.

Bank of Japan FAQs

What is the Bank of Japan?

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is the Japanese central bank, which sets monetary policy in the country. Its mandate is to issue banknotes and carry out currency and monetary control to ensure price stability, which means an inflation target of around 2%.

What has been the Bank of Japan’s policy?

The Bank of Japan embarked in an ultra-loose monetary policy in 2013 in order to stimulate the economy and fuel inflation amid a low-inflationary environment. The bank’s policy is based on Quantitative and Qualitative Easing (QQE), or printing notes to buy assets such as government or corporate bonds to provide liquidity. In 2016, the bank doubled down on its strategy and further loosened policy by first introducing negative interest rates and then directly controlling the yield of its 10-year government bonds. In March 2024, the BoJ lifted interest rates, effectively retreating from the ultra-loose monetary policy stance.

How do Bank of Japan’s decisions influence the Japanese Yen?

The Bank’s massive stimulus caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers. This process exacerbated in 2022 and 2023 due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks, which opted to increase interest rates sharply to fight decades-high levels of inflation. The BoJ’s policy led to a widening differential with other currencies, dragging down the value of the Yen. This trend partly reversed in 2024, when the BoJ decided to abandon its ultra-loose policy stance.

Why did the Bank of Japan decide to start unwinding its ultra-loose policy?

A weaker Yen and the spike in global energy prices led to an increase in Japanese inflation, which exceeded the BoJ’s 2% target. The prospect of rising salaries in the country – a key element fuelling inflation – also contributed to the move.

Author

Lallalit Srijandorn

FXStreet

Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.

AUD/USD leans on a China prop that's quietly buckling

The Australian Dollar spent Monday trying to talk itself into a recovery, and the tape was not buying it. AUD/USD has ridden a China-and-commodities narrative for months, one that conveniently glossed over how shaky both legs of that trade have become, and Friday's Nonfarm Payrolls print finally forced a reckoning. US employers added 172K jobs against a consensus near 85K, with roughly 93K of upward revisions to prior months and the unemployment rate steady at 4.3%.

USD/JPY: Japanese Yen ignores every reason it has to strengthen

There is a strange disconnect running through the Japanese Yen right now, and USD/JPY parked just above 160.00 captures it perfectly. By any domestic reading the Yen should be firming: first-quarter Gross Domestic Product beat expectations over the weekend at 0.5% on the quarter, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to raise rates at its meeting on June 18, and authorities have spent the past week jawboning a currency they clearly want stronger.

Gold edges lower below $4,350 as Fed rate hike expectations grow

Gold price trades with mild losses around $4,325 during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The precious metal remains on the defensive near its lowest since March 24 amid uncertainty in the Middle East and rising bets of a US interest rate hike.

Strategy resumes BTC accumulation with 1,550 Bitcoin purchase, adjusts STRC dividend schedule

Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy bought 1,550 BTC last week for roughly $101.3 million, according to a Form 8-K filing on Monday. The purchase, made at an average price of $65,332 per Bitcoin, was funded through proceeds from the company's at-the-market equity offering program.

$1.75 trillion: Is SpaceX the most popular IPO in history, or the most engineered?

On June 12, the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history is set to hit the tape, and almost nobody is asking whether the price is right, because almost everybody already wants in.

The US economy defies the rules: 100 days into the Oil shock and the recession signal is still missing

More than three months after the start of the Iran war and the resulting disruption to global energy markets, the US economy continues to display remarkable resilience. The conflict has triggered a sharp rise in Oil prices, reignited inflationary pressures and fueled widespread concerns about a potential economic slowdown.