Bank of Japan leaves policy unchanged
- BOJ cuts assessment of overseas economies
- Cuts assessment of exports
- Cuts assessment on output
- Says Japan economy continues to recover moderately but exports, output affected by slowdown in emerging economies
- Says overseas economies continue to grow at moderate pace, mainly for advanced economies, despite slowdown in emerging economies
- Says exports, output have recently been more or less flat
- Keeps monetary policy steady, pledges to increase monetary base at annual pace of 80 trln yen
- Policy decision was made by 8-1 vote
- BOJ Board member Kiuchi votes against policy decision
- Kiuchi proposed tapering annual JGB purchases to 45 trln yen, which was turned down by majority vote
- Kiuchi proposed keeping asset buying, zero rates for as long as needed under flexible price target, which was turned down by 8-1 vote
Headlines via Reuters
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As widely expected, no change in policy from the Bank of Japan.
All those cuts to output, exports etc. The BOJ is citing offshore weakness, so their reasoning will be there isn't any policy action they could reasonably take to impact upon this. it seems they are waiting for offshore conditions to improve and thus feed through to the Japanese economy.
Kiuichi grabbing a disproportionate share of headlines with his dissents, as usual.
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Meanwhile, USD/JPY lost another 10 points or so on the announcement and is don around 40 points from earlier highs.
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Still to come from the BOJ today, Governor Kuroda's press conference at 0630GMT
