“Japan’s economy continued to expand gradually due to aggressive monetary easing, which has had a positive impact on bank profits,” the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said while speaking before the parliament on Friday.
Kuroda added: “Banks’ profitability has diminished as a trend due to prolonged low-rate environment, structural factors such as aging population.”
“I don’t think the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is undertaking a negative rate policy because Japan’s public debt balance is high. I also don’t think negative rates are cooling the economy,” the country Finance Minister Taro Aso said, defending the central bank’s negative interest rates policy.
Aso further said that the “government is ready to tap reserves set aside for covid relief to deal with further costs if infections rise more or battle with a pandemic is prolonged.”
Market reaction
The Japanese yen is largely unfazed by the above comments on the monetary policy, as USD/JPY flirts with 108.00, at the time of writing.
The spot is off the lows despite the renewed weakness in the US dollar across its main competitors, as the Treasury yields hold at higher levels and the S&P 500 futures rise.
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