Bloomberg (December 14)
Under the leadership of Masahiko Kuroda, the Bank of Japan’s “policies have indeed been bold — bolder than anything Abe himself has been willing to attempt. But the BOJ’s policies are allowing the government to sidestep its responsibility. That must stop if Abenomics is to come off life support. On Friday, Kuroda should begin nudging Abe to do something with his popular mandate for change. Anything.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, BOJ, Bold, Change, Government, Kuroda, Mandate, Responsibility, Sidestep
Financial Times (August 31)
“The story of Abenomics is far from over–but the typical Japanese household could be forgiven for thinking that all the Bank of Japan had achieved, in pushing down the currency and importing inflation, was another hit to household living standards. Japanese real wages have been falling for most of this year.”
Tags: Abenomics, BOJ, Currency, Household, Inflation, Japan, Living standards, Real wages
Bloomberg (August 10)
The Bank of Japan has refrained from additional monetary stimulus; an apparent acknowledgement that “pumping more money into the economy won’t end Japan’s deflation. Falling prices are as much about the aging population as anything else, and only structural change can arrest the trend.” Fortunately, the economy might just be driven by “a new breed of Japanese companies going overseas as the domestic market shrinks.”
Tags: Aging population, BOJ, Deflation, Economy, Japan, Market, Monetary stimulus, Overseas, Prices, Structural change
Financial Times (April 18, 2013)
“The revival of Japan will be beneficial to the rest of the world, since it is also a process of evolution into a mature economy that can build win-win relationships with its economic partners,” writes Finance Minister Taro Aso. He continues, “the Bank of Japan has fired a monetary bazooka at deflation,” aiming to achieve 2% inflation. A “second bazooka” will seek to create private demand with flexible fiscal policy and the aim of boosting real GDP by 2%. Already, there is a dramatic improvement of economic and market sentiment. This “momentum must now be turned into a recovery.”
Tags: BOJ, Deflation, Economy, Finance Minister, Inflation, Japan, Market sentiment, Recovery, Taro Aso
Financial Times (April 7, 2013)
“After 20 years of hesitation Japan has stepped on to the economic tightrope. To do so is bold and necessary.” A decade earlier, the effectiveness of Abenomics would have been more certain. “As the years passed, the path that Japan must walk has narrowed, with continued deflation on one side or debt crisis on the other. That is no reason not to try. Disaster is otherwise inevitable, which is why the BOJ’s past reluctance to act was so infuriating. But there is no margin for error.”
Forbes (April 4, 2013)
“Quantitative easing is a global craze, and now a man named Kuroda is showing Bernanke and Draghi how to do it big time….While markets expected Kuroda’s BoJ to make a bold move, the size of the purchases and the wide array of financial assets the central bank plans to stock up on came as a surprise, boosting Japanese stocks and sending the Nikkei 225 higher by 2.2%.”
Tags: Bernanke, BOJ, Central bank, Draghi, Japan, Kuroda, Nikkei, Quantitative easing, Stocks
Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2013)
“Japan’s quadrillion-yen market for government bonds is grappling with something it usually doesn’t face: volatility. Price gyrations are rising as bond investors try to assess how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s fresh attack on deflation will play out in a market accustomed to a steady decline in consumer prices and a cautious, predictable central bank.”
Tags: Abe, BOJ, Bond market, Consumer prices, Deflation, Investors, Japan, JGBs, Volatility
Financial Times (March 29)
“The challenge facing Japan’s new leadership in escaping from economic stagnation and deflation was underscored on Friday as data showed further declines in consumer prices and an unexpected contraction in factory output. Haruhiko Kuroda, the new governor of the Bank of Japan, could struggle to reach his goal of generating 2 per cent inflation in two years, analysts said, after the government data indicated core consumer prices fell 0.3 per cent in February compared with a year earlier.”
Tags: BOJ, Consumer prices, Deflation, Economy, Factory output, Inflation, Japan
Financial Times (March 3)
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has acted boldly by appointing Haruhiko Kuroda as the next governor of the Bank of Japan. “Mr Kuroda has been appointed to end Japan’s one and a half decades of deflation. The attempt to do so will shake Japan’s economy and, maybe, the world’s. This shift is necessary but risky. It is likely to be destabilising, at least in the short run. Mishandled, the upheaval could end in disaster. But disaster was coming. Gamble now or fail later – that was the choice.”
Tags: BOJ, Deflation, Economy, Japan, Shinzo Abe
Financial Times (November 28)
“After 15 years in which the BoJ has failed to defeat deflation, the institution could do with some fresh thinking.” Facing a similar situation, the UK has appointed a Canadian to head the Bank of England, but “sadly, it is inconceivable that Japan would appoint a foreigner to lead one of its most important institutions.” Still there is hope that an outsider will be appointed. It is time to end “Japan’s overly timid anti-deflation policy.”
Tags: Bank of England, BOJ, Deflation, Fresh thinking, Japan, UK
