Economy

Kuroda Defends BOJ Policy Revision at Davos

Keystone via AP
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda is seen on the closing day of the 53rd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.

Jiji Press

17:02 JST, January 21, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda on Friday said that it was “perfectly right” that the BOJ revised its monetary easing policy at its policy meeting in December, expanding its allowable range of long-term interest rates.

At an event of the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Kuroda said the Japanese central bank will continue its massive easing policy, in order to achieve its 2% inflation target.

Kuroda, who is set to end his term of office in April, stressed that the 10-year-old easing policy changed Japan’s economic structure, pulling the country out of deflation, and created jobs.

But the inflation target has not been achieved yet. “That is the only regret I have,” the outgoing governor said.

On Friday, the internal affairs ministry said that Japan’s core consumer price index in December last year rose 4.0% from a year earlier, the biggest increase in 41 years.

Kuroda explained that the CPI rise is attributed to higher import prices, predicting that the inflation rate will fall below 2% in fiscal 2023.