Japan’s finmin pressures BOJ, deflation deepens

Japan’s finance minister urged the Bank of Japan on Friday to align policy with the deeply indebted government’s efforts to fight deflation, maintaining pressure for possible monetary easing or even government bond purchases.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa did not rule out any policy options but reiterated the current level of bond buying — a step some policymakers have called for to tame bond yield gains — was appropriate for now.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama echoed his finance chief, Naoto Kan, in calling for BOJ cooperation, telling parliament that the government will work with the central bank to overcome falls in prices. Data showed Japan’s narrowest measure of consumer inflation fell at a record pace in December.

Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza