New BoJ governor Ueda reaffirms commitment to ultra-loose monetary policy

Kazuo Ueda

Kazuo Ueda, the new governor of the Bank of Japan, has signalled the central bank will continue to follow the ultra-loose monetary policy pursued by predecessor Haruhiko Kuroda.

In his first news conference as governor yesterday (10 April), Ueda argued the current policy of negative interest rates and yield curve control remained appropriate under current economic conditions. However, the governor, who took over from Kuroda on 9 April, said the central bank must also avoid being too late in normalising monetary policy, indicating a less dovish style than his predecessor. "If the BoJ suddenly realises that inflation will stably and sustainably hit 2% and decides to normalise monetary policy, it will have to make very big policy adjustments," he said. "That ...