BOJ’s Wakatabe: Central bank must maintain powerful easing

Bank of Japan (BOJ) Deputy Governor Masazumi Wakatabe, in his scheduled appearance on Wednesday, said that the central bank must maintain powerful easing.

Additional quotes

Sustain environment where wages can rise.

BOJ shouldn't rule out taking additional easing steps if risks to economy materialise.

cost-push inflation must be dealt with by means other than monetary policy.

fiscal policy, energy policy aimed at reducing Japan's reliance on oil and gas imports could be among steps to deal with cost-push inflation.

if inflation sharply exceeds central banks' targets through spiral of soaring wages and inflation expectations that could cause sustained inflation in an undesirable way.

China's covid lockdowns are hurting not just China's economy but global trade and output activity through supply chain disruptions.

must be mindful of risk US Fed's rate hikes and balance sheet reduction could cause global stock market adjustment, outflow of capital from emerging economies.

Japan's economy showing some signs of weakness but picking up as a trend.

Japan's economy likely to recover as a trend.

If impact of pandemic, supply constraints lasts longer than expected, that could weigh on Japan's private spending.

Japan's consumer inflation has not yet achieved BOJ’s price goal in sustained, stable manner.

for Japan to achieve BOJ’s price target, prices must rise for wide range of goods backed by improvement in output gap, heightening of inflation expectations.

I am doubtful the global economy will enter an era of big inflation.

For Japan, I am more worried about the chance that low growth, low inflation and the low interest rate environment will persist.

Market reaction

USD/JPY is gaining 0.35% on the day to trade near-daily highs of 129.18, in part due to the dovish comments from the BOJ policymaker.