Rising Yields Making BOJ Efforts Harder

A Japanese government fiscal advisory panel warned that a failure to improve the nation’s finances could trigger a spike in bond yields that makes central bank easing less effective.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to map out a plan to curb the world’s largest public debt and maintain confidence in the nation’s bonds, the panel, which includes academics and company executives, said in a report released in Tokyo today.

“If the government fails to show concrete success in fiscal reform, the large bond purchases by the Bank of Japan over the next two years could be seen as debt monetization, and this may cause a sharp spike in yields, weakening the effect of monetary easing,” the report said.

Abe and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are grappling with reviving the economy without blowing out the nation’s debt burden, projected by the International Monetary Fund to reach 245 percent of gross domestic product this year, the highest in the world. Volatility in stocks and bonds is underscoring the challenge, with the Topix Index falling 3.4 percent today after a one-day 6.9 percent decline last week.

Bloomberg

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