We had the minutes as they were released yesterday. here’s the Wall Street Journal‘s take on them:
- Skepticism is growing among the Bank of Japan’s policy board over its ambitious inflation target
- Some members are now openly disagreeing with Kuroda’s optimism
- The minutes reveal a clear split among the board members
(This is not new news, signs of dissent have been growing)
The argument by the skeptics:
- Shirai said there was strong uncertainty over how the general public will form mid-and long-term inflation expectations… she proposed changing the phrase “as expected” to “at a moderate pace”
- “”citing the high degree of uncertainty over foreign economies as well as jobs and income conditions at home, the former academic proposed adding the phrase that “attention should be paid to the downside risks”
- Sato proposed changing the report to say that the 2% target will “come into sight” during its projection period from “price increases are likely to reach the 2% target.”
- Kiuchi suggested eliminating the numerical target and so the report simply says that prices are “likely to rise moderately.” Mr. Kiuchi has expressed chronic opposition to the 2% target and has constantly proposed making it more flexible at policy board meetings since its adoption
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Expectations amongst many economists persist that the the BOJ will take additional steps sometime between March and July 2014
