BoJ's Ueda: Will keep adjusting degree of easing if our economic, price outlooks are to be realized
Speaking at the post-policy meeting press conference on Friday, Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda said that the Bank “will keep adjusting the degree of easing if our economic and price outlooks are to be realized.”
The BoJ left the benchmark interest rate at 0.15%-0.25% following its September policy meeting.
Additional quotes
Japan's economy is recovering moderately, although some weakness has been seen.
Uncertainties surrounding Japan's economy, prices remain high.
Must pay due attention to financial, FX markets, impact on Japan's economy, prices.
Outlook of overseas economies, including the US economy, markets remain unstable.
Markets remain unstable, when asked about deputy governor uchida's remarks.
Will monitor economy, market trends with extremely high sense of urgency.
Important to check overseas economic trends including the US when making policy decisions.
Risks of inflation overshoot have diminished to some extent.
Will check how overseas economic trends would impact corporate activities, earnings.
Uncertainties around the US and overseas economy are behind recent market moves.
Need to closely watch if the US economy would achieve soft landing or harder correction.
Real interest rates remain at very low levels.
There is some time to make decision on monetary policy because upside price risks have decreased given recent FX moves.
There is no specific time schedule for how long it would take to confirm impact of overseas economy on BoJ’s outlook.
Raised assessment on private consumption because wages are growing.
Recent data confirmed economy was moving in line with our outlook.
Recent data suggest we may be able to raise our outlook on underlying inflation, but overseas trends raise uncertainties.
No change to our thinking that we will keep raising interest rates if economy moves in line with our outlook.
Not yet able to narrow down Japan's estimated neutral interest rates.
We're in phase of deepening understanding on neutral rates while we check impact of rate hikes on economy.
Interested in how updated minimum wages would impact part-time workers' wages.
Will continue to aim to carefully communicate BoJ’s thinking behind policy decision with markets.
Aware of criticism that BoJ’s communication was insufficient, when asked about post July meeting market rout.
Would be good to have communicate more frequently on our view on price outlook, likelihood of achieving inflation target.
Market reaction
USD/JPY is little changed following these comments. The pair was last seen trading 0.13% lower on the day at 142.48.
Bank of Japan FAQs
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%.
The Bank of Japan has embarked in an ultra-loose monetary policy since 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.
The Bank’s massive stimulus has caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers. This process has exacerbated more recently due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks, which have opted to increase interest rates sharply to fight decades-high levels of inflation. The BoJ’s policy of holding down rates has led to a widening differential with other currencies, dragging down the value of the Yen.
A weaker Yen and the spike in global energy prices have led to an increase in Japanese inflation, which has exceeded the BoJ’s 2% target. With wage inflation becoming a cause of concern, the BoJ looks to move away from ultra loose policy, while trying to avoid slowing the activity too much.
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
