[Kyodo News, Washington] At a regular press conference on the 3rd, IMF spokesman Kozak said regarding the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy, “the policy interest rate should be gradually raised” based on data such as price outlooks. There are voices in Japan that are cautious about the Bank of Japan raising interest rates further, but the Bank of Japan reiterated its stance that policy should be based solely on economic indicators. Kozak explained that the Japanese economy is “on track to achieve 2 percent (the Bank of Japan’s target rate of inflation) sustainably.” He also said that normalizing monetary policy would “help anchor Japan’s inflation at 2 percent,” and praised the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes, which it began after ending its negative interest rate policy in March. Kyodo News, October 4, 2024, 5:28 a.m.
>>1 If you read the actual exchange, “In sum, the boj should continue to be data driven in its approach.” It’s a cliched statement that they should continue to do things based on data.
>>12 No, Takahashi Yoichi said, “My consolidated government balance sheet was ignored by the Ministry of Finance, but in 2018, the IMF started using the same one, and Japan’s finances were deemed to be the second-lowest among the G7, so the people at the Ministry of Finance had no say in it. “Because I have the IMF’s stamp of approval,” he said.
>>13 That’s a lot of work. They’re even manipulating external pressure, wanting to raise interest rates, make the yen stronger, and increase taxes so that the people suffer.
When you line up charts of interest rates and prices around the world, Japan is the only one that is abnormal or out of place. It feels like the same thing is happening as when the yen was strong, but in the opposite direction.
Many companies have gone bankrupt and are only just now finishing passing on the cost increase. If the war in the Middle East spreads, they’ll have to do the same thing again. This government really doesn’t help the people at all. If they’d done some fiscal support, everyone would have been saved. National universities are saying they can’t pay their electricity bills and can’t operate, they’ve reached their limit. The private sector is beyond its limits, so they should just issue government bonds and help the people.
The price index will have a change in base year next year, so the weighting adjustments may result in prices not rising again and it seems like quality adjustments are not being done very well.
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