BSS, Tokyo :
The Bank of Japan will not raise interest rates “for quite a long time”, its chief said in an interview published Saturday even as its US and European peers tighten monetary policy.
Haruhiko Kuroda dismissed speculation that the central bank was planning to
adjust its super-loose policy, aimed at keeping long-term interest rates
around zero percent and short-term rates at minus 0.1 percent
“We don’t intend to raise them for quite a long time,” he told the mass-circulation Yomiuri newspaper.
The BoJ has struggled for years to reach the 2.0 percent inflation rate thought necessary to turbocharge Japan’s economy, and has defended its decision to maintain monetary easing even as other central banks tighten policy.
After its last policy meeting in July, the BoJ said it “intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short-and long-term interest rates for an extended period of time.”
Kuroda told the Yomiuri that “an extended period” – a phrase borrowed from the US central bank – meant “quite a long time.”
“We don’t specify the period, such as whether it is one year, three years or five years,” he was quoted as saying.
The Bank of Japan will not raise interest rates “for quite a long time”, its chief said in an interview published Saturday even as its US and European peers tighten monetary policy.
Haruhiko Kuroda dismissed speculation that the central bank was planning to
adjust its super-loose policy, aimed at keeping long-term interest rates
around zero percent and short-term rates at minus 0.1 percent
“We don’t intend to raise them for quite a long time,” he told the mass-circulation Yomiuri newspaper.
The BoJ has struggled for years to reach the 2.0 percent inflation rate thought necessary to turbocharge Japan’s economy, and has defended its decision to maintain monetary easing even as other central banks tighten policy.
After its last policy meeting in July, the BoJ said it “intends to maintain the current extremely low levels of short-and long-term interest rates for an extended period of time.”
Kuroda told the Yomiuri that “an extended period” – a phrase borrowed from the US central bank – meant “quite a long time.”
“We don’t specify the period, such as whether it is one year, three years or five years,” he was quoted as saying.
