BoJ April meeting Summary of Opinions: Must continue current easy policy given uncertainty over global outlook
“Must continue current easy policy given uncertainty over global outlook,” per the latest Summary of Opinions for Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) monetary policy meeting held in April.
Additional details
Must support wage hike momentum through monetary easing.
Achievement of price target appears to have come into sight but must maintain easy policy for time being given downside, upside risks.
Must ensure that tweak to interest rate forward guidance is not interpreted as sign BoJ would allow future rate hikes.
BoJ must be not too quick nor late in policy shift, to avoid causing sharp volatility in interest rate moves.
Closely watching outcome of BoJ’s bond market survey as YCC is causing distortion in smooth finance.
BoJ can get input that may prove useful for future conduct of monetary policy by conducting review of past 25-years of its monetary policy.
BoJ should not target specific monetary policy change when guiding policy review to ensure it would be neutral and convincing.
USD/JPY remains pressured
The dovish Summary of Opinions fail to push back USD/JPY bears as the yen pair stays depressed around 134.00 as Tokyo opens for Thursday. That said, the risk-barometer pair dropped the most in a week the previous day amid broad US Dollar weakness.