BoJ: Monetary easing to remain until goal is met

TOKYO: Bank of Japan (BoJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank won’t end its ultraloose monetary policy until its inflation target was met, seeking to dispel lingering market speculation it could dial back stimulus earlier than expected.

But Kuroda said the BoJ had the necessary tools to engineer a smooth exit from crisis-mode policy and was already brainstorming how a future stimulus exit could affect its balance sheet.

“Underlying price moves remain weak, so our feeling is that there is some distance to achieving our price target,” Kuroda told an upper house confirmation hearing yesterday.

“It’s unthinkable to end or weaken the degree of monetary easing before our inflation target is met,” he said.

Kuroda rattled markets last week by flagging for the first time the prospect of an exit from easy policy if his inflation target was met, sending the yen higher and bond prices lower.