The Bank of Japan intends to maintain a soft monetary policy

The governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, said today that the central bank intends to continue to pursue a soft monetary policy in order to ensure the stability of inflation at the target level of 2% and wage growth.

This statement surprised the markets, as most economists expected a tightening of the central bank's policy against the backdrop of the highest inflation in a decade – at 3.7%.

In addition to his words about the PREP, Kuroda noted that this year the Japanese economy will grow strongly and steadily with the support of favorable financing conditions. Despite the fact that the uncertainties associated with inflation and the COVID pandemic remain.

In addition to these factors, another uncertainty was created by the sharp rise of the yen – after the announcement of proposals for the Bank of Japan to withdraw from an extremely soft policy. Against this background, the Japanese national currency rose to a maximum in seven months – 129 yen per US dollar.

The driver of the yen's growth was also the message that the Bank of Japan may in January raise the inflation forecast for 2023 and 2024 to close to the target level of 2%.