MADRID, 18 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has decided to keep its monetary and stimulus policy unchanged, after having revised downward its growth projections for the coming years, despite the consensus expectations of analysts that pointed to new signs of twist in the position of the Japanese issuing institute.
In this way, the entity chaired by Haruhiko Kuroda has decided to keep the country’s interest rates unchanged at -0.1%, the same rate that it has been maintaining since January 2016, when it entered negative territory for the first time in his story.
In addition, it will continue to apply its government bond yield curve control policy, allowing the yield on Japan’s 10-year bond to fluctuate in a range of around +/- 0.5 percentage points from the target level, while will continue with its large-scale sovereign bond purchases.
At its meeting last December, the Bank of Japan surprised the markets by widening the accepted range of fluctuations for the Japanese 10-year bond price in its yield curve control strategy.
The institution then announced an adjustment in the accepted trading band of the Japanese 10-year bond price from around +/-0.25 percentage points to the current +/-0.5 percentage points.
The entity stressed that it will continue with its policy of quantitative and qualitative monetary easing (QQE) with control of the yield curve, with the objective of reaching the price stability target of 2%, as long as it is necessary to maintain that target consistently. stable.
GROWTH FORECASTS REDUCED
On the other hand, the Bank of Japan has presented its new macroeconomic projections for the country, expressing its confidence that activity will recover towards the middle of the forecast period given the lower impact related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the decrease in the restrictions on the supply side, although it is expected to be under downward pressure derived from the high prices of raw materials and the slowdown in international economies.
In this way, the growth rates projected for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 are somewhat lower than in their previous projection of last October, mainly due to the weakening of the international situation.
In the case of inflation, the projected rates of increase remain more or less unchanged for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, while for fiscal year 2024 it is somewhat higher due to a decrease in the effects of the measures applied to alleviate the increase in the cost of energy.
In this way, the Japanese central bank expects GDP to close fiscal year 2022 with an expansion of 1.9%, compared to the 2% previously forecast, and that in 2023 it will increase by 1.7%, compared to 1.9%. scheduled in October. Looking ahead to the 2024 financial year, the entity anticipates an expansion of 1.1%, compared to the 1.5% previously expected.
In the case of the CPI, the Bank of Japan expects the rate to rise by 3% in 2022, one tenth more than expected in October, to slow down to 1.6% in 2023, in line with its previous estimate, while which expects prices to rise 1.8% in 2024, two tenths more than previously anticipated.
In this sense, Marcel Thieliant, senior analyst for Japan at Capital Economics, commented that, despite maintaining the configuration of their policies, “the increase in their medium-term inflation forecasts supports the view that control of the inflation curve performance will be abandoned once a new governor takes office in April.”